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J5LEMENTS OF GEOGRAPHY, 

J^OariBITE© HXSTOIUCAi£»i\ 
FROM THE- 

CBEATION TO THE END OP THE WORLB^ 
ON A NEW PLAN^ 

ADAPTED TO CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS AlJ© 
PRIVATE FAMILIES. 

ILLUSTRATED BY FOUR PLATES. 



BY JEDIDIAH MORSE, D. D. 

Author of the American Universal Geograptiy, Gazetteer, fei^> 

THE SIXTH EDITION, 

Revised 0nd correcttfi,^^ 




NEW-HAVEN: 
rUBLISHED BY H. HOWE: 

1825 









JJ^sLriii •/ Lonntcricut ro twc ,' 
Khi IT lti>.^JF^IDEKKD That on the thirternth day of S«;)teraber iri 
the fiftieth year of the independence of the United States of Anaer- 
iea, Jedidiah Morse of the said district, hath deposited in this office 
the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words 
fM lowing, to wit: 

• Elements of Geography, exhibited historically, from the creation 
to the end of the^ world : on a new plan, adapted to children in schools 
and private families Illustrated by four plates. By Jedidiah Morse, 
D. D., Author of the American UniverRal Geography, Gazetteer, &c. 

Id conformity to the act of the Congress of the United Stateg, entitledr 
" An act for the enconragement of learning by securing the copies of 
map8, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copied 
during the tiroes therein mentioned," 

CHARLES A. INGERSOIyL. 
CUrk oftht District of Connecticut , 
A true copy of Record, examined and sealed by me, 

CHARLES A. INGERSOLL, 
Ctrrh of tht Dt^rict of Cormtcticnt ^ 



3 ^- i 



^ Converge, ptiftter. 



PREFACE. 



Thb present state of the world, aad the pras'- 
pects opening before us, render a knowledge of 
Geography a necessary part of a good education. 
The fact, that school-books, for teaching this sci- 
<3nce, have, within a few years, become nume- 
rous, beyond all former example, shows that such 
is the universal opinion. In this eventful period 
of the world, when changes and improvements 
^f the most important kind, are every where 
multiplying with a rapidity altogether astonish- 
ing ; .when '^ many are running to and fro through 
the earth, and knowledge is increasing ;'' when 
missionaries of the cross are spreading the ever- 
lasting gospel among all the nations of the earth,^ 
no wonder that every one, who is awake to be* 
hold these things, should be anxious to become 
acquainted with every part of a world, in which 
the Creator seems now to be displaying his per- 
fections in the most conspicuous and glorioa* 
manner. 

The following opinions of the science of Gea- 
graphy, as adapted to youthful minds, deserve 
particular attention. "There is not a son or 
daughter of Adam, but has some concern both in 
Geography and Astronomy."* '• Among those 
studies which are usually recommended to youn^ 
people, there can be few that might be improved 
to better uses, than Geography.''t '• Tbf(Jie 

* ?)r. Waifs-. t l\m 



branches of science, which lead the mind to at- 
tend to the appearances of nature, are suited to 
raise exalted thoughts of the Great Creator.""^ 
All eup school-hooks should be formed with par- 
ticnlaf refepence to the moral improvement of the 
rising generation ; in a manner best adapted to 
make correct impressions on their minds, and ta 
excite useful inquiries. None of the sciences can 
be managed to effect these purposes so well, as 
Geography, combined, as it naturally and neces- 
sarily is, both with Astronomy and History. 
These sciences, which are blended in this book, 
at once entertain and enlarge the mind ; and yet 
in their elements are so simple and eUsy to be 
understood, that the study of them can hardly be 
begun at too early a period. I have known chil- 
dren who would point to continents, oceans, and 
o^her places on the globe and maps, before they 
could pronounce their names, and who, at the 
lisping age, would promptly tell, when asked, 
the name of the continent, the country or nation^ 
the state, the county, and town where they were 
born. Children are pleased while looking over 
a map, or globe, and delighted when they tind a 
place, of which they have read with interest in 
the Bible, or some history, or newspaper. They 
are naturally inquisitive, and by judicious ma- 
nagement their curiosity is easily excited, and 
they begin to ask questions ; and thus a way is 
opened to pour into their minds useful know- 
ledge, '^ to teach the young idea how to shoot,'' 
and so to bend '^ the twig,'' as to give " the tree" 
its proper inclination. 

Geography appears to be the fii*st in the order of 
the sciences^ and children, whose capacities are too 

* F)r. Charles Backus.- 



generally underrated, are able, at a very early 
age, to understand its elementary principles. 
They are as capable of learning what is useful^ 
as of those worse than unmeaning tales^ which 
they are too often taught for their amusement. 
They are better pleased with iruth^ than with 
fiction. The latter is calculated only to create 
and gratify a false taste, which gives the parent^ 
afterwards, the unnecessary and difficult labor 
of correcting. 

The plan of this elementary work, it is be- 
lieved, ha's never been before adopted. It has 
appeared to its author, from the first thought of 
it, and on the most mature deliberation, to be the 
only natural plan for a first book on Geography. 
It embraces a view of the world in its origin, pro- 
gress, and end. Such a comprehensive view of a 
whole subject, is gratifying to any mind — to the 
minds of children especially. When they enter 
on the study of Geography, they will very na- 
turally inquire, When, and how, did this world, 
of which we are about to acquire a knowledge, 
come into being? Who made it? For what pur- 
pose was it made ? When and where, were the 
first parents of the human race created? What 
great events have happened in this world, since 
it was created? How long is it to last? What 
will be its end? A thousand other pertinent 
questions, will grow out of these general ones, 
which parents and instructors will be pleased to 
answer. 

• The Author has divided his work^ into Ancient^ 
Modern^ and Prospective Geography, as the natural 
divisions; and has subdivided it, according to the 
several subjects, into sections of convenient 
length for lessons. To aid both the instructor 
^nd pnpil, he has subjoined to each ?e:rtioii4 a ee,t 
A 5 



of question?, answers to vvhich will be iouiu-f iii 
the section to which they are annexed. In thi«* 
way, the judgment of the child will be called into 
exercise in selecting the proper answer, as well 
as the memory^ in retaining it. 

As a great part of the facts arid information 
contained in this work is derived from the Bible, 
of all books the best and most to be relied on^ 
and on the most important topics, the only au-" 
thentic source, the author hopes the study of it 
will, in an easy and pleasant manner, lead our 
youth to the study of this sacred Book, the ten- 
dency of which is to make them truly wise, and 
happy for ever. 

Ngw-HAVErv,- Sept. 1825. 

NoiE. — The Author of these Elements, takes 
leare to recommend, that there be provided by 
the instructor, or the parents of the pupils, in 
every school wiiere this book is used, a colored 
map of the world, and a copy of the new uni- 
versal Atlas, colored, just published by N. and 
S. S. Jocelyn, New-Haven, constructed on an im- 
proved plan. These will be useful, and even ne- 
cessar}^, to the young pupils, for reference, and 
will be sufficient, with the plates m this book, for 
their purpose, till they shall arrive at an age to 
use an atlas themselves. 

Every pupil should be required to consult the 
Dictionary, and thence to give the meaning of all 
the words used in this book, which he does not un- 
derstand. This will prove a proiitable exercise to 
the child, and give him a more correct knowledge 
^f the science he is studying- 



ELEMENTS OF GEOGRAPHK 



SECTION L 



DEFINITION OF GEOGRAPHY-. 



GEOGFiAPHY, in the larg-est sense of the word, is 
a description of the earth, and of those heavenly 
bodies, which were created, and are inseparably 
connected, with it. We give this large, and, per- 
haps, new meaning to the word, because the Cre- 
ator, at the beginning, connected the heavens with 
the earth. And what He has thus joined together 
in their creation^ we would not put asunder in 
the description. These bodies together form the 
Solar System^ of which an account will be given in 
its place. 

Of the Creation of the Ea.rth and the Heavens^ 

When a child enters on the study of geography, 
vve have said in our preface, it will be natural for 
him to inquire^ '• When, and how did this world, 
of which we are about to acquire a knowledge, 
come into being? Who made it? For what pur- 
pose was it made ? When and where were the 
iiist parents of the human race created? What 
great events have happened in this world since 



O ANCIOT GEOGRAPHY. 

it was created ? How long is it to last? What 
will be its end ?" Answers to these inquiries are 
found only in the Bible. Here we learn, that 
'^In the beginning,'' or 5825 years ago, "God 
created the heavens and the earth." He 
might but have spoken the word, and this 
work of creation would have been instantly done ; 
and have commanded, and all would have stood 
fast ; but he chose to employ six days in com- 
pleting it. 

At first " the earth was without form and void, and 
darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the 
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters ; 
and God said. Let there be light, and there was 
light ; and God saw the light that it was good ; and 
God divided the light from the darkness, and God 
called the light day ; and the darkness he called 
nighu^'^ This was the work of the Jirst day. 

On the second day, God said " Let there be sl fir- 
mament in the midst of the waters, and let it di- 
vide the waters from the waters. And God made 
the firmament, and divided the waters which were 
under the firmament, from the waters which were 
above the firmament : and God called the firma- 
ment Heaven." 

The firmament, here called Heaven, is supposed 
to be the air, or atmosphere, which surrounds 
the earth; and the clouds, which contain the waters, 
are supposed to be the waters above the firma- 
ment. 

On the third day " God said, let the waters im- 
der the firmament," or those which make a part 
of our globe, " be gatherd together into one place, 
and let the dry land appear : and it was so. And 
God called the dry land, Earth ; and the gather- 
ing tosfether of the waters, he called Sem-"'* 



Ot" THtr CREATION', H- 

What are here called Earth and Seas^ are now 
jknown under the name of Continents and Oceans. 

" And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, 
the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding 
fruit, after his kind^ whose seed is in itself, upon 
the earth ; and it was so." 

On ihe fourth day, " God said, let there be lights- 
in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day from 
the night ; and let them be for signs and for seasons, 
and for days and for years." 

Accordingly '• God made two great lights ; the 
greater light," which is the Sun, ^^ to rule the day, 
and the lesser light," or the Moon, " to rule the 
night : he made the Stars also. And God set them 
in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the 
earth, and to rule over the day, and over the night, 
and to divide the light from the darkness." 

The Sacred historian describes the heavenly 
bodies here, not as a modern Astronomer would 
describe them, but as they appear to the unlearned^ 
that he might be understood by the great body of 
mankind, who are of this character. 

All the heavenly bodies are round, a shape best 
fitted for motion, and with other like bodies, innu- 
merable, are placed by their Creator in open, infi- 
nite space, without any solid foundations, and put 
into various, continual, and most rapid motions ; 
yet the most perfect order and harmony are pre- 
served throughout the whole. 

The various movements of the earth, in connex- 
ion with the movements of the heavenly bodies^ 
connected with it, give us the divisions of time 
called day and night, summer and winter, spring 
and autumn, seed-time and harvest ; — also ouv 
vear^, months, and days. 



For these important purposes, the Creator, fa 
his wisdom, has connected the heavenly bodies- 
with the earth, and blended inseparably, the sci- 
ence of Geography^ with that of Astronomp So far 
as relates to the Solar system, both must necessa- 
rily be studied together. 

On the fifth day, God caused '^ the waters to 
bring forth abundantly the moving creature that 
hath lite,^ and fowl that may fly above the earth, 
in the open firmament of heaven." " Great whales 
also, and every living creature that moveth, which 
the waters brought forth abundantly, after their 
kind, and every winged fowl, after his kind, did 
God create, and bless, " saying. Be fruitful, and 
multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let 
fowl multiply in the earth." 

On the sixth day, " God said. Let the earth bring 
forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and 
creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his 
kind : and it was so. 

" And God made the beasi of the earth after his 
kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing 
that creepeth upon the earth after his kind : and 
God saw that it -wa^ good. 

" And God said. Let us make man in our image, 
after our likeness ; and let them have dominion 
aver the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the 
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, 
and over e\evy creeping thing that creepeth upon 
the earth. 

^' So God created man in his oxion image : in the 
image of God created he him; male and female 
created he them. 

" And God blessed them, and God said unto them^ 
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, 
end subdue it ; and have df^minion over the ftsh 



of thes£:a, and over the fowl of the air, and ovev 
every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 

" And God said, Behold, I have given you every 
herb hearing seed, which is upon the face of all 
the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit 
of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall be for 
meat. 

" And to every beast of the earth, and to every 
fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth 
upon tho earth, wherein there is life, / have given 
every green herb for meat : and it was so." 

When the work of Creation was thus finished, 
" God saw every thing which he had made," and 
pronounced it, " very good." 

On the Seventh day, when God had " ended his 
work which he had made, he rested from all his 
work, and blessed the seventh day, and sanctified 
it, because that in it he had rested from all his 
work, which God created and made." 

Thus God instituted the Sabbath^ and at the same 
time gave an example of the manner of keeping 
it. It has ever since remained, and been regard- 
ed, as a divine Institution, of incalculable benefit to 
mankind, by the Patriarchs, by the seed of Abra- 
ham, the chosen people of God, and since the 
coming and death oif Christ, by the whole Christian 
world. 

" These are the generations of the heavens and 
of the earth, when they were created : in the day 
that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens ; 
and every plant of the field, before it was in the 
earth, and every herb of the field before it grew : 
for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon 
the earth, and there was not a man to till the 
ground. Rut there went up a mist from the earth 
a'nd watered the whole face of the ground." 

Some have supposed with plausibility, if not 
proba'bility, that tRe e^frfh wafe watered w fhoiit 



12 ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 

clouds or I'ain, by a " mist from the grourid" lil'l 
the flood; because no mention is made of any rain- 
bow or cloud, until the time when the bow in the. 
fcloud was designated as a token of the corenant, 
which God made with man, and with every living 
creature of all flesh, that the waters shall no more 
become a flood to destroy all flesh." 



Qiiestions on Section L 

What is Geography in the largest sense of the 
word? 

What system do the heavens and the earth, to- 
gether, form? 

What inquiries would a child naturally makCj, 
on entering upon the study of geography ? 

Where are answers to such inquiries to be 
found? 

Who created the heavens and the earth ? 

How long ago? 

How many days was God employed in making 
the world? 

Had he power to do it by a word, in a mo- 
ment? 

In what state was the earth at first ? 

What was done the first day ? 

What the second ? 

What is meant by the firmament^ called hea- 
ven? 

What by the waters above the firmament ? 

What by the waters under the firmament ? 

What was done by the Creator on the third 
day? 

What are the earth and seas here mentioned 
tiow called ? 

What was done on the fourth day? 



OF THE CREATION. lo 

Does the sacred historian speak of the heavenly 
^bodies as an astronomer, or according to their ap- 
pearances^ to the eye of the unlearned ? 

What is the shape of the heavenly bodies ? 
Why were they made of this shape ? 
W^here are the heavenly bodies placed ? 
Are they at rest, or in motion ? 
Is there perfect order in their movements? 
What divisions of time do these movements of 
the heavenly bodies furnish to mankind ? 

ilas the Creator connected Geography and As- 
tronomy, and must both be studied together? 
What was done by the Creator the fifth day ? 
What, the sixth day ? 

When God had finished his work and surveyeS 
it, what did he say of it ? 

What did God do on the seventh day ? 
Was the sabbath now instituted ? 
Has it ever since been regarded by some por- 
tions of mankind? 

What have been its effects? 
How was the earth at first watered ? 
Were there probably no clouds^* no rain, no 
rain-bow, before the flood ? 
Why is this probable ? 

* JVb Clouds — This may appear contradictory to what is 
said of the waters above ihejfirmament, being ** the clouds.^'* 
Perhaps this difficulty will be suffictently explained by cod- 
siderioa:, that the descriptions of Moses are according; to the 
known state of things at the time he wrote, which vas loij* 
after the flood* 



B 



SECTION IL 



THE SOLAR SYSTEM. 



^Fhis is the system which the Bible denomi- 
nates, " the heavens and the earth,^' formed to be a 
habitation for man. Having given an account of its 
creation, a description of it naturally follows. Our 
description will accord with the present know- 
ledge and «tate of the system, without regard to 
the changes which took place after the fall. 

This system consists of the sun, the planets, 
and their satellites, and the comets, all which re- 
volve round the sun. By a universal law of the 
Creator, discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, called 
the law of Gravitation^ or Attraction^ these bodies, 
in their various and rapid movements, have all 
been kept in their proper places, and have per- 
formed their respective revolutions, in the most 
perfect order, ever since their creation. 

This system is called, by modem astronomers, 
to distinguish it from the Ptolemaic and other in- 
cor:*ect systems, the Copemican system, in honor 
of Nicolas Copernicus, a native of Prussia, who, 
in the year 1530, restored the Pythagorean doc- 
trine, and supported the rational and correct sys- 
tem of astronomy, the truth of which has since 
been confirmed by Sir Isaac Newton, and is now 
uni ^ersally received. 

There are eight planets belonging to this sys- 
tem named in the table on next page ; beside four 
others newly discovered, whose names will be 
found on the plate 



THE S'OLAK SYSTEM. 



.ner^Sli^ihSLt^^Mo^^ 




4:Vetrly discovered Planets hel>reni Afars k Jupiter 
a?/ nearly at ttie same distartce Iremi the Sun. 

1 S Testa 

2 ^ Jvno ^ 
i p reres 

-^ Thllos 



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THE SOLAB SVSTEM. 



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10 ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY'. 

The bodies named in this table, together with 
their satellites, the comets, and the newly discov- 
ered planets, form a system of themselves, and 
their motions are so far independent of other hea- 
venly bodies, as that all our mathematical tables 
are formed, and our calculations of eclipses made, 
without reference to any influence which these 
other heavenly bodies may have on our own sys- 
tem. If, therefore, our system were struck out of 
existence, as it is destined to be at some future 
period, it would not probably affect the other ex- 
isting systems, of which the fixed stars are sup- 
posed to be centres, as our sun is of this ; and so 
numerous are these other systems, that the de- 
struction of ours would hardly be missed. 

Mr. Addison was of this opinion. " Were the 
sun," he says, " which enlightens this part of cre- 
ation, with all the host of planetary worlds that 
move round about him, utterly extinguished and 
annihilated, they would not be misted more than 
a grain of sand upon the shore. The space they 
possess is so exceedingly little, in comparison of 
the whole, that it would scarce make a blank in 
the creation." 

This view of the works of the Creator suggests 
the thought, that this earth, with the other parts 
of the soiar system, as its appendages, may have 
been created specially to be the grand th» atre for 
the display of the wonderful work of Redemption, 
and of those divine perfections which this most 
wonderful work has drawn forth to the view and 
admiration of the intelligent universe. And when 
this design shall have been accomplished, then the 
earth and the heavens will be reduced to their 
primitive nothing. If this thought is a correct 
one, we shall, in view of it, be better able to " com- 
prehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, axid 



THE SOLAR SYSTEM! . 17 

length, and depth, and height, and to know the 
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge."* — and 
better to understand other lofty language used by 
the inspired writers, when speaking of this work 
of Redemption, considered the greatest of all the 
works of God. 

It will be seen by the table, that a year on the 
planet Mercury is but 88 of our days ; while on 
Herschel, a year is nearly 84 of our years. \ ere 
an inhabitant of Herschel, one year old, to visit 
our earth, he would, with us, be an old man of 84 
years : — and if one should come from Mercury, 
aged a hundred of their years, he would here be 
a yoimg man, less than 25 years of age. 

We shall now give a more particular account of 
the several parts of the solar system. 

The Sun, The sun is an immense lunr inous 
globe, about 1 ,400,000 times larger than our earth, 
It turns on its axis once every 25 days, 14 hovrs^ 
and 6 minutes. Of the sort of matter of which the 
sun is composed, we know nothing. It is the only, 
and inexhaustible source of light and heat to the 
whole system. By his genial beams, he pre motes 
vegetation, cherishes animal life, attracts vapors 
from the sea, and other bodies of water which from 
into clouds, and descend in rain to water and re 
fresh the earth. 

The Planets, The names of the planets, in their 
order as you proceed from the sun, are mentioned 
in the table. Mercury and Venus move never, 
the sun than the earth, and are therefore called 
iTiierior planets. The other four, whose orbits are 
without that of the earth, are called exterior plan 
ets. 

The path described by a planet moving ronnl 
the s-jm, is called its orbit. 

♦Eph.iii. 18, la 
B5 



Id A^XIENT GEOGKAPliV 

The Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, and Her5chel,havc 
each bodies, called satellites^ which regularly re- 
Tolve round them — Of these the Earth has one^ 
which is called the Moon ; Jupiter has /owr, beside 
a double-belt ; Saturn seven^ together with a broad 
circle^ called his ring ; Herschel has two. 

Neither Herschel, nor any of the satellites of 
the planets, except the Moon, can be seen with- 
out the assistance of a telescope, although some 
of them are supposed to be larger than this earth. 

The satellites revolve round their primaries, 
and attend them in their orbits round the sun, as 
the moon does the earth. 

Had we eyes of sufficient strength to survey at 
one view, our whole system in all its parts, and 
in full motion, how grand and interesting would 
be the sight ! — What then must be the feelings of 
the Creator, who comprehends with the greatest 
minuteness, not our system only, but the whole 
of his immense works, in all their diversified, vast, 
and sublime movements ! The thought prompts 
the exclamations of the Psalmist — ^^ How^ manifold 
are thy works, oh God ! in wisdom hast thou made 
them all ! The earth," the universe, ^^ is full of 
thy glory !" 

The planets may be distinguished from each 
other by their different appearances. 

Mercury emits a bright, white light. He keeps 
so near the sun, and moves so swiftly, that he is 
seldom seen, and that only for a short time a little 
before sunrise, and after sunset. 

Venus is the most beautiful star in the heavens; 
and as she always appears, according to the part 
.of her orbit she is in, either in the ea^^ before the 
sun rises, or in the west after he sets, she is called^ 
when in the east^ the Morning, and when in the 
7i)€sL the Evening Sta,r>. 



THE SOEAR SYSTE.VI. I r^ 

Mars is of a red, fiery color, giving" a much 
duller light than Venus, though he sometimes ap- 
pears equal to her in size. 

Jupiter^ like Mercury, shines with a bright, 
white light; Saturn^ whose motion is slow, and 
hardly discernible, with a pale, faint light. 

The planets and their satellites are opaque, or 
dark bodies, like our earth, and shine only by re- 
flecting the light of the sun. 

In the Moon, when viewed through a telescope, 
especially at her increase or decrease, mountains 
and valleys are evidently perceived ; and in April, 
1787, Dr. Herschel discovered something like vol- 
canoes in three different parts of it. 

From several appearances there is good reason 
lo believe, that the moon is surrounded by an at 
uaosphere, and is inhabited. 

The moon, with respect to the sun, revolves 
round the earth once in 29 days 12 hours and 44 
minutes; thus marking out our months, and rises 
at the equator about 50 minutes later each day 
than the preceding. But at the polar circles, the 
moon rises soon after sunset, from the first to the 
third quarter; so that the inhabitants of these 
frozen regions, during the sun s absence, (such is 
the wisdom andgoodnessof the Creator,) are sup- 
plied with almost constant moon-light, and at the 
poles the winter moon shines without setting. 
Thus the moon rules the night. 

The point in which the moon is at her greatest 
distance from the centre of the earth is called her 
Apogee. The point of her l^ast possible distance 
it? called her Perigee. 

Eclipses. When the moon comes between the 
earth and the sun, she appears to cover a part or 
the whole of the sun's body, and the sun is then 
^aid to undergo an Eclipse ; although, properly 



^0 ANCIEKT GEOGRAPHY. 

speaking, his rays are only intercepted from that 
part of the earth on which the moon's shadow falls. 

When the earth comes between the sun and the 
moon, the moon falls into the earth's shadow ; and 
having no light of her own, she suffers a real 
eclipse, from the interception of the sun's rays. 
As the shadow of the earth on the moon is round, 
it proves that the earth must be round. 

An eclipse of the sun never happens but at the 
change of the moon, and of the moon only at full 
moon. 

Eclipses are of great use in determining exactly 
the times of past events. Hence Sir Isaac New 
ton was led to compose his Chronology. 

Eclipses of the moon are also useful in deter- 
mining the longitude of places ; thus, if the eclipse 
be known to begin or end at Boston exactly at mid- 
night, and is seen at another place at ten o'clock 
in the evening, the latter place is 30 degrees west 
of Boston ; if at 2 o'clock in the morning, it is 30 
degrees east of Boston. 

The Comets, The comets^ vulgarly called bla- 
zing stars^ are bodies which move round the sun 
in long eliptical curves, suddenly appearing, and as 
suddenly disappearing. They are distinguished 
from the other stars by a long train or tail of light, 
which in certain situations resembles a border of 
hair, and is always opposite the sun.* The num- 
ber of them belonging to the system is computed 
at 450. They were formerly supposed to portend 
some signal calamity, and people beheld them 
with terror; but they are now viewed with as 
little consternation as the planets. 

"* See the figure of n Comet on the Plate of the Polar sjs*- " 



TilE SOLAR SVSTE^I. £1 

The fixed stars. These make no part of the so- 
lar system, but encompass it at an immense dis^ 
tance. 

When God created the heavens and the earth, it 
is also added by the sacred historian, '^ He mada 
the stars also." Of these about 3000 are visible 
to the naked eye ; and enough more have been 
discovered by the Telescope, to make it evident 
that they are innumerable. How many there are 
beyond those, out of our sight, in the immensity 
of space, none but their Creator knows. 

We may form some conception of the amazing ' 
-distance of the fixed stars, from this consideration ; 
that although the earth, in moving round the sun. 
is 188,000,948 miles nearer the fixed stars in one 
part of his orbit, than in the opposite, yet their 
magnitude and brightness are not in the least alter- 
ed, and the polar star, in every part of the earth's 
orbit, appears to us in the same position ; hence 
we conclude, that the whole extent of the earth's 
orbit is but an imperceptible point, in comparison 
of the distance of the fixed stars. These stars 
always preserve the same distance in regard to 
each other, and are hence called Fixed Stars. 
They hare a twinkling appearance, which distin-^ 
guishes them from the planets, which shine with 
a steady light. 

The fixed stars are supposed to be at least two 
hundred'thousand times further from us, than we 
are from the sun. At such a distance they could 
not be visible to us by any reflected rays of the 
sun, and of course they must shine by their oivii 
brightness. 

The fixed stars have been distributed by Astro- 
nomers into certain parcels, called Constella- 
tions ; to these the ancients gave various names ot 
animals, &ic. the reasons of which are involved in 
fable.. 



22 A2fCIEiTr GEOGRAPHY. 

The ancients made 48 constellations, including 
1022 stars: 12 constellations, in the Zodiac; 21 
north of it; 15 south of it. Modern astronomera 
have added to these, 14 constellations ia the 
southern region, and one in the northern. 

The names of the 12 constellations of the Zo- 
diac, called also signs^ with their characters, are 
as follows : 



Latin Names, 


I 


Aries 


2 


Taurus 


3 Gemini 


4 


Cancer 


5 Leo 


6 


Virgo 


7 


Libra 


3 


Scorpio 


9 


Sagittarius 


10 


Capricornus 


11 


Aquarius 


12 


Pisces 



English Names. Clraracters* 

The Ram T 

The Bull 8 

The Twins H 

The Crab gs 

The Lion a 

The Virgin rrjj 

The Scales =£iz 

The Scorpion rri 

The Archer S 

The Goat V5 

The Water Bearer XI2J' 

The Fishes X 

It is now generally supposed that each of the 
fixed stars is a sun or centre to a system of its own, 
which was an opinion of some of the ancients. 
And there may be some great centre, around 
ivhich all these systems revolve, as so many pla- 
nets. 

To suppose all these stars to be suns, with pla- 
nets revolving round them like those in our sys- 
tem, and these again revolving round one common 
centre, a system of systems, and all filled with in- 
habitants, how does the mind expand with a 
pleasing amazement at the grandeur of GOD^ 
who created, who supports, governs, and minutely 
and continually inspects, the immense whole! 
Somp such view of the heavens as thi?^ led David 



THE SOLAR SVSTOl. 25 

io exclaim, '^ When I consider thv heavens, the 

WORK OF THY FINGERS, THE MOON AND THE STAES 
WHICH THOU HAST ORDAINED; WHAT IS MAN, THAT 

THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM !'' What a speck in th6 
works of GOD, is this earth, " When I considered," 
said Mr. Addison, after he had been viewing the 
starry heavens, '' that infinite host of stars, or 
to speak more philosophically, of suns^ which 
shone upon me, with those innumerable sets of 
planets, or worlds, which were moving round their 
respective suns; when I still enlarged the idea, 
Bnd supposed another heaven of suns and worlds 
arising still above this which we behold, and these 
still enlightened by a superior firmament of lumi- 
naries, which are planted at so great a distance, 
that they appear to the inhabitants of the for- 
mer as the stars do to us ; while I pursued this 
thought, I could not but reflect on that little insig- 
nificant figure, which I myself bore amidst the im- 
mensity of God's works ; I could not but look 
upon myself as a being that was not worth the 
smallest regard of One who had so great a work 
under his care and superintendency. 1 was afraid 
of being overlooked in the immensity of nature, 
and lost amongst that infinite variety of creatures, 
which in all probability swarm through all these 
immeasurable regions of matter." 

Questions on Section IL 

We call the sun, and planets, the Solar System^ 
What does the Bible denominate them ? 

Of what bodies does this system consist ? 

What law binds these bodies together and regu- 
lates all their motions ? 

Who discovered this great and universal law ? 

What do modem astronomers call this sys- 
tem ? 

^Vhy is it 60 called ? 



^4 AJfeiENT GKOGRAPm. 

Is the Copernican now universally received a^ 
the true system ? 

Name the Planets as given in the table — their 
diameters — times of revolution on their axes — - 
hourly motion in their orbits — mean distances from 
the sun — periodical revolutions. 

Which is the largest of the planet*? ? 

Which the smallest ? 

Which nearest the sun ? 

Which the farthest off ? 

On which is their year the longest ? 

On which the shortest ? 

Is the solar system so independent of the other 
innumerable systems, as that if it were struck out 
ef existence, it would hardly be missed ? 

How old would an inhabitant of Herschel, one 
year old at home, be on our earth ? 

How old should we reckon an inhabitant of Mer^ 
€ury, 100 of his years, old, were he to visit our 
earth, and his age reckoned according to the length 
of ouF year ? 

[Questions of the same tenor may be asked in 
regard to all the other planets.] 

For what special purpose, probably, did God 
crco\e this earth and the other parts of the solar 
?^ystem ? ^ 

If this be so, will it not help to explain the lofty 
language of scripture, used in describing the werk 
of Redemption. 

How far is the sun from the earth ? 

Of what materials is he composed ? 

What are the effects of his genial beams? 

How often does he turn on his axis ? 

Which are the interior^ and which the exterior 
Planets? 

Why are they so called ? 

"What is the orbit of a planet 



'I-HE SOLAR SYSTEM. ^5 

Which of the planets have satellites ? 

How many has each of these ? 

What have Jupiter and Saturn beside tbf ir sat- 
ellites? 

Can Herschel and the satellites of the planets 
be seen with the naked eye ? 

How are they seen ? 

Do the planets all move round the sun, attend- 
ed by their satellites, all the while revolving 
round them ? 

How long it each of the planets in accomplish- 
ing its revolution round the sun ? [see the table.] 

Could we see at one view the whole system in 
all its parts in actual motion, would it not fill us 
with astonishment and delight? 

Must the Creator feel vastly more, who actually 
comprehends in one view, not one system only, 
but the whole universe all in motion ? 

How are the planets distinguished from each 
other ? 

State their different appearances. 

Which of the planets is the morning and even- 
ing star? 

By what light do the planets shine ? 

W^hat is said of appearances in the moon ? 

Is it supposed to be inhabited ? 

How often does it revolve round the earth? 

What division of time does this revolution mark 
^ut? 

How much later does the moon rise at the 
equator each succeeding day ? 

What time does the moon rise at the polar cir- 
cles? 

W^hat is the case at the poles ? 

By this provision of the Creator, which of his 
perfections are distinguishingly manifested ? 



26 ANCIETN GEOGRAPHY. 

Give an account of an eclipse of the sun and 
of the moon. 

As the shadow of the earth on the moon, in an 
eclipse, is round^ what does this prove ? 

In what way do eclipses determine the longi- 
tnde of different places ? 

Describe a comet and its course? [See the 
plate.] 

How many are there belonging to our system ? 

How were they formerly viewed ? 

How now ? 

Do the flxed stars make a part of the solar sys- 
tem? 

How many have been discovered by the naked 
eye? 

How many in all ? 

Can their distance be calculated? 

What fact shows their distance to be immense ? 

Does their distance prove that they must, like 
our sun, have light in themselves ? 

In what manner did the ancients divide the 
tlxed stars ? 

Repeat the Latin and English names of the 
twelve constellations in the Zodiac. 

Is it generally supposed that all the heavenly 
bodies which we see, are inhabited by intelligent 
beings ? 

Does the view here given of the heavens inspire 
exalted ideas of the grandeur of God ? 

What did David say when he had some such 
view of the heavens ? 

What did Addison say in like circumstances ? 

Note. — This, and any other sections, which 
may be too long for a single lesson, may easily be 
divided with a pencil mark, by the teacher, to 
suit his or her convenience. 



SECTIOiN III. 



OF THE EARTH. 



The Earth being more strictly the subject of 
geography, and an account of its creation having 
been given, we now proceed to give a more par- 
ticular description of it. 

Its Figure. The ancients in general conceived 
of the earth as a vast plain, extending an immense' 
way downward, fixed and established on founda- 
tions; and that the sun and the other heavenly 
bodies actually move round it, as they appeared 
to do. Our Indians, and other unlearned and un- 
civilized nations are still of this opinion. An In- 
dian being asked. What does the earth stand upon ? 
answered, Upon an Elephant. On what^ said the 
inquirer, stands the Elephant ? On the back of a 
great Tnrtle^ replied the Indian. On what does 
the Turtle stand ? Ah^ that^ said the Indian, / can'^ts 
tell. It is now known that the earth is round from 
its shadow on the moon when eclipsed, but par- 
ticularly from the fact, that multitudes have sail- 
ed round it. 

Its motions. The earth has two motions ; one 
round the sun, in the space of a year, called its 
annual motion, which occasions the diversity of 
seasons; the other round its axis, from west to 
east, called its diurnal motion, in the space of 
twenty-four hours, which produces day and night. 
In its annual circuit, the earth moves at the rate 
of 68,217 miles in an hour. In its diurnal rota- 
tion, the inhabitants on the equator are carried 
U>40 miles an hour. Notwithstanding this swift 



2U ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 

and double motion, we appear to be at rest, and 
imag^ine that the sun and stars, which are fixed, 
move round us, and we speak as if this were the 
case, when we say, the sun and stars rise and set. 
" The sun riseth, and the sun goeth down, and 
hasteth to his place where he arose." Solomon, 

Its magnitude. The diameter of the earth, as 
is stated in the table, is 7,928 miles ; and its cir- 
cumference, 24,906. Its whole surface contains 
about 199,000,000 square mi >es. 

Its component parts. The globe which we in- 
habit is composed, according to Moses, of '^ earth," 
and " seas," or of land and water,, and is therefore 
called the terraqueous globe. About three fourths 
of its surface is covered with water, the rest by 
land. The respective productions of the land and 
water are given us by Moses in his account of the 
creation already recited.* These productions are 
mostly of a green color, which is the softest and 
most grateful to the eye. 

Its natural divisions, A late learned and cele- 
brated geographer,! considers the surface of the 
globe as " one vast ocean," containing an immense 
number of islands of various sizes. The two 
largest of these islands are called Continents,, the 
Eastern and Western, The Ea-tern continent, 
w^hich was first peopled, is often called the Old 
World,, and the Western the New World,, because 
unknown by civilized nations, till discovered by 
Columbus in 1492. The Eastern Continent is 
divided into Asia, Europe, and Africa ; the West- 
ern into N. and S. America. New-Holland is 
often considered as a continent by geographers. 
If it be not so styled, it is the largest island on 
our globe. 

* See the account of the work of the third ^fidi fifth d ifs 
+ MaltG Hrun. 



THE EARTH. 29 

^- There is, properly speaking, only one sea, on 
our globe, one continuous fluid spread round the 
land, extending probably from one pole to the 
other, covering nearly three fourths of the surface 
of the earth." All the detached portions of 
water, called seas, lakes, gulfs, &c. are not, (some 
few excepted,) entirely separated from this 
^^ universal sea^ which we call the OceanP'^^ 

This general view of the natural divisions of 
the earth, is new, and appears to be unobjection- 
able and important, and is, therefore adopted in 
this book. I give below the author's ^' classifica- 
tion," of his new divisions, which is simple and 
intelligible, and can be easily verified to the un- 
derstanding of the pupils, by means of an artifi- 
cial globe.t 

* Malte Biun. 

t It would be well to have every school furnished with a 
globe. A cheap kind, of the size of an ostrich's egg, would 
he useful, if the expense of a larger one would be too greats 



3& 



ANCIEKT GEOGRA!»m% 



Great Auslro- 
Oriental ba- 
sin or sea.oc- 



cupying the 

greatest part J 2 Oriental 
of theaquHtic . or Pacijic 
hemisphere Ocean. 
of the globe. 



The ffest' 
em boiin, 
forming a sort 
of channel be- 
tween the two 
great cojiti- i' 
nenfs* ^ 



CLASSIFICATION OF SEAS. 

I Amtral fits frontier may be fixed by a line, dpavni 
Oetan, or j from Cape Horn to the Cape of Good 
icy sea of -{ Hope,from thence to Van Diemen sLand, 
the South. A and returning by the South of New Zea- 
V. land to Cape Horn, 

a The Orcat Archipelago, or the part 
comprised bet>veen New Zealand on the 
south the islands of Marquesas on the east, 
the island of Formosa on the north* and 
the straits of Malacca on the west 

b. Northern Oriental Ocean between 
Asia and North 4n™®''ica The inland 
seas of Japan and Kamschatka. and the 
sea of Behring, form a part of it. 

c . Southern Oriental Oeean, from the isl- 
ands of the Great Archipelago to South 
America. 

r With its dififerent gulfs. The limiU? 
3. Indian J above mentioned mark out what remains 
Ocean. } for this section. The gulfs of Arabia 

l_ Persia, and Bengal form a part of it 

ra. Northtrn Ocean, Its southern limit Is 
formed by the department of France, call- 
ed the Pas de Calais, by Great Britain, 
the isles of Faroe, and Iceland. 

The northern inland seas of Europe, and 
the northern icy sea, are branches of it* 

6. The Atlantic Ocean ; from the prece^ 
ding frontier to the tv/o points where the 
coasts of Brazil and Ouinea approach 
nearest to each other. 



i. Western 
Ocean. 



fl. The MediterraiHaan and \ts 
i gulfs. 
Branches. J 2. The Gulf of Mexico, fee 
I 3. Baffin's Bay and Hudson's 
j Bay or the seas of the Ss- 
t. quimaux. 

c. The Ethiopic Ocean, between Brazil 
and Africa, as far as the line from G^pB 
. Horn to theCapeJpf G<v>d Hope- 



THE EARTH. 61 

By the computation of M. Brun, the proportiea 
»f land north of the Equator, to that on the south, 
is as 419 to 129 : i. e. there is more than three 
times as much land on the north, as there is on the 
south of the Equator. For these and other divisions 
land of and water, consult the map of the world^ 
fronting the title, Plate No. I. 

Mountains, These form the most considerable 
eminences on the surface of the earth. They are 
of various sizes, materials, and heights. The 
Himalaya Mountains, between Thibet, Cashmire, 
and Nepaul, are the highest yet known. The 
highest peak in this chain is Dhawalagcri, ia 
Nepaul, 27,677 feet above the level of the Sea. 
The next highest are the Andes in S. America^ 
in which Chimborazo, 100 miles S. W. of Q.uit09 
rises 21,440 feet above the level of the sea. 

Volcanoes, Many of the mountains, which are 
spread over the earth, are volcanic, or burning 
mountains, which contain in their bowels sulphur, 
bitumen, and other combustible matter, the effect 
of which, when kindled into a flame, is more violent 
than that of gunpowder, or any thing yet known in 
nature. As the explosive force of gunpowder arises 
from the conversion of water into air, that which 
takes place in volcanoes is undoubtedly from the' 
same cause. Volcanoes may be compared to huge 
cannon. From their mouths, some of which are a 
mile and a half wide, are vomited forth dreadful 
volumes of smoke and flame — torrents of bitumen, 
sulphur, and melted metals — clouds of cinders and 
stones — and sometimes rocks of enormous bulk are 
thrown at a great distance. In the great eruptioa 
of Mount Vesuvius, in 1779, a stream of /ai^a,* of 
an immense magnitude, is said to have been throwa 

*A stream qfLava is the mtflted inattiftr which fSsues (com 
volQaBoe.s 



to the height of at least 10,000 feet above the top 
of the mountain. The quantity of lava thrown out 
sometimes, is so great as to enter cities, forests, and 
the ocean in large rivers. Fields have been cover- 
ed with it, 100 and even 200 feet in thickness. 
The force of the explosion has been so great as to 
shake the earth, agitate the sea, and even moun- 
tains, and to overthrow the most solid edifices. The 
ignorant natives of Iceland near Mount Hecla, ima- 
gine, that the roarings of the volcanoes of this 
mountains are the cries of the damned ; and its 
eruptions the effects of the rage and despair of 
these uahappy wretches. 

There are four noted volcanoes, viz. Cotopaxi, 
near Quito, in South America ; Mount Hecla, in 
Iceland ; Mount Etna, in Sicily ; Mount Vesuvius, 
in Naples. The first of these is 18,898 feet above 
the level of the sea ; and its eruptions are frequent. 
There are many others of less note in Asia, Afri- 
ca and America. 

Earthquakes. There are two kinds of Earth- 
quakes ; one is caused by the action of subterrane- 
ous fires and the explosion of volcanoes, which 
ape felt only at small distances, and at the time 
when volcanoes act, or just before they open. 
The other is supposed to be produced by immense 
quantities of inflammable air, pent up and com- 
pressed in the caverns and crevices of the earth, 
which being greatly rarified by internal fires, and 
finding no outlet, force a passage through all oh- 
stFuctions, 

Earthquakes are usually preceded by a general 
ftillness in the air; the sea swells and makes a 
,<?reat noise ; the fountains are troubled and send 
fortji muddy water ; the birds seem frightened, as : 
if sensible of the approaching calamity. 

Th'^ shock comes on with a rumbling noise, like 
*'*»'»*^«rrnTrla6fes foiling on fro^^en ground,^ or thun 



THE EARTH. 33 

der; the ground heaves and rolls or rocks from 

side to side, in many instances. The shocks are 
often repeated, and succeed each other at short in- 
tervals, for a considerable length of time. Awful 
chasms are sometimes made during the shocks, 
from which issues water, and in some instances 
flames. Whole cities have been swallowed up in 
these chasms, and thousands of people in them. 
Sometimes persons have been swallowed up in one 
chasm and throw^n out alive through another. 
Sometimes the chasms have suddenly closed on 
persons partly sunk, and squeezed them to death, 
with their heads above ground. 

History affords innumerable instances of the dread- 
ful and various effects of earthquakes. In the reign 
of Tiberius, 100 towns in Lybia near Egypt were 
overthrown by a great earthquake. In Calabria, 
in the kingdom of Naples, the town of Euphemia 
was totally sunk in 1638, and the place where it 
stood is a dismal, putrid, stinking lake. In 1755 
an earthquake laid in ruins a great part of the city 
of Lisbon. The earthquake which was felt in Can- 
ada, m 1663, overwhelmed a chain of mountains of 
free stone more than 300 miles in length, and the 
whole of that immense tract was changed into a 
plain. 

Questions for Section III, 

How did the ancients conceive of the earth ? 

Did they suppose that the sun ar other hea- 
venly bodies actually move round the earth, as 
they appear to do ? 

Do our Indians still believe this? 

What reply did an Indian once make to one 
who asked him what the earth s ood upon ? 

On what did he say the elephant stood ? 



34 ANXIEN*T GEOGRAPHY. 

On what the great turtle ? 

Of what shape is the earth ? 

How does this appear? 

How many motions has the earth ? 

What are they ? 

What does the annual motion occasion ? 

What the diurnal motion? 

In its motion round its axis, which way doe^ 
the earth turn ? 

How many miles every hour does the earth 
move in its annual circuit ? 

How many in its diurnal motion ? 

Notwithstanding this double motion, how do we 
appear to remain ? 

How do we speak of the sun and stars ? 

How did Solomon speak of the sun ? 

What is the diameter of the earth ? 

What its circumference ? 

What the contents of its whole surface ? 

Of what is the earth composed ? 

Why is the earth called the terraqueous globe ? 

What portion of the earth is covered by water? 

What portion by land ? 

What account has Moses given us of the re- 
spective productions of the earth and the waters? 

What is the prevailing color of the growth of 
the land ? 

What is the peculiar advantage of this color ? 

How does Make Brun^ a celebrated geographer, 
consider the surface of the globe ? 

What are the two largest of these islands 
called ? 

What is the Eastern Continent denominated ? 

What the Western ? 

Why ? 

Who, discovered the western continent ? 

WJiea? 



THE EARTH. ^5 

What are the great divisions of the Eastern Con- 
tinent ? 

What of the Western ? 

Point to these divisions on the map of the 
world ? 

What is New-Holland called? 

If it be not a continent, what is it ? 

Is there, strictly speaking, but one sea on our 
globe ? 

Describe it. 

What portion of the earth's surface does this 
sea cover ? 

What do we call this universal sea ? 

Are all the smaller portions of water connected 
with this great ocean ? 

Is this division of the earth adopted in this booa. 
as the natural and proper one ? 

W^ho first noticed and stated these natural di- 
visions of the earth's surface ? 

In his classification of the seas, what does he 
call the division marked A ? 

What are its sub-divisions marked 1, 2, 3? 

Give the limits of the Austral ocean. 

Point to it on the map of the world. 

Name the three divisions, a, b, c, of the Orient" 
ul^ or Pacijic ocean, and give the limits of each. 

Give the limi s of the Indian ocean. 

What gulfs form a part of it? 

W'hat is the grand division marked B. called, 
and how is it defined ? 

What other name is given to it ? (See figure 4."^; 

What are the sub-divisions of this Western 
Ocean ? 

Give the limits of the Northern Ocean. 

Name its branches. 

Give the limits of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Name its three branches ? 



3S ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 

What are the limits of the Ethiopic Ocean / 

Point to all these divisions on the map. 

On which side of the equator, north or south, is 
there the most land ? 

What is the proportion of land on each side of 
the equator ? 

What is the name of the highest chain of moun- 
tains in the known world ? 

What is the name of the highest peak in this 
chain ? 

Which is the next highest chain ? 

Give the name of the loftiest peak in this 
chain ? 

How far is this peak from Quito ? 

In what direction ? 



THJi EitRTH CONTINUED. 

Natural History, 

The earth, says Dr. Goldsmith, is placed at a 
happy middle distance from the centre of the 
system, and is privileged beyond all the other 
planets that depend on the sun for their support. 
The interior planets. Mercury and Venus " are 
situate too near the violence of its power" the- 
exterior planets, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Her- 
schel, feel less of his kindly influence ; while 
" the earth seems, in a peculiar manner, to share 
the bounty of the Creator: it is not, therefore, 
without reason that mankind consider themselves, 
as the peculiar objects of his providence and re- 
gard." 

In the last section was given elementary ideas 
of what is called Physical or Natural Geography ; 
by which we understand a knowledge of, this ' 
earth, simply considered — of its figure, size, mo- 
tions, component parts, natural divisions, and of 
the common, and the remarkable appearances of 
nature pertaining to ijt, The bodies on the sur- 
face of this earth, arid in the seas, or *' the vari- 
ous productions of nature, — their properties, man- 
ners and relations which they bear to us arid to 

* 0,oUsmilh 
P 



?\j^ AMiE,XT GEO.GHAl'Hi'. 

^acb other,'^ which is called " Natural Hi^iovyJ-' 
with other things pertaining to the earth, a« it 
came from the hands of the Creator, are now to 
be considered. 

Animate bodies include ail such as have the 
properties of sensation and voluniary motioiu v^hich 
are divided into a great many classes, l.jMan. 
Quadrupeds OY four footed beasts^ wliales^ and some 
other sea aniuials, Vv ho suckle their young ones, 
are called viviparous animals. 2. Those animals 
that lay eggs, and hatch their young ones, are call- 
ed oviparous ; such are birds, serpents, alligators, 
lizards, tortoises, &c. 3. Frogs are placed by na- 
turalists among mixed animals, as partaking of 
beast and fish. 4. Insects and wonas are distiu- 
guished by the name of animals with colourless 
blood. 

That science which teaches the structure of 
animal bodies by dissection, is called Anatomv. 
A description of quadrupeds, Zoology, — of birds, 
Ornithology, — of lishes, Ichthyology, — of insects, 
Entomology, — of vvorms, Helminthology, — of an- 
imal bodies in their several parts. Physiology. 

Inanimate bodies are either organic^ as are all 
vegetables ; or inorganic^ as are all other inani- 
mate bodies. 

Vegetables have many properties common with 
animals : They are all propagated by seeds, which 
very much resemble the eggs of oviparous animals ; 
and they are of ditferent sexes, male and female ; 
but they are distinguished from animals^ by the 
want of voluntary motion. 

All trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, mosses, ferns, 
flags, and saa weed^, &9. &c. are vegetables. 



THE EARTH. 3'9 

From Animals are obtained, beside their fleBh 
and skins, milk^ cream^ butter^ cheese^ J^gg^'i honey ^ 
wax^ tallow^ silk^ wool^ hair^ horn^ &c. 

From Whales^ spermaceti^ of which candles are 
made, whalebone^ and oil or blubber^ used by tan- 
ners. The ocean, seas, lakes, and rivers, yield a 
great variety of fish, oysters, clams, lobsters, &c. 
which afford a delicious food, a rich article of 
commerce, and constitute the chief subsistence of 
multitudes of poor people. 

From Vegetables are obtained, from ihe'ir juices 
naturally, or by distillation, gwns^ resins^ (by some 
very improperly called lomm) balsams^ turpentine^ 
tar^ sugar. From their seeds — meal^fiour^ oils^ &<c. 

They furnish materials for dying all the various 
colors. 

Cider is produced from apples ; perry from 
pears ; 'wine from grapes and currants ; vinegar 
from wine, cider, beer, and all fermented liquors ; 
brandy from wine and peaches ; gin ov geneva from 
rye ; whiskey from various kinds of grain ; 'i-um 
and sugar from molasses ; molasses from the juice 
of the cane ; beer from barley made into malt, alse 
from hops, spruce, and other vegetables ; snuff 
from tobacco, &,c. maple sugar and molasses from 
the sap of the maple-tree. 

Waters, Water is a compound of vital and in- 
flammable air, in the proportion of 85 parts of the 
former, to 15 of the latter. Others say, water is a 
compound of fire and ice. Not only dew, rain, or 
5now, and meteors, but all animals and vegetables, 
says Sir Isaac Newton, grow from water, and after 
putrefaction, return in part to water again. " Out 
of ihe waters God created the m^^ving- creature 



4.0 ANCIENT GE6GRAPKY. 

that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the 
earth, in the open firmament of heaven."* 

Rain water, is, perhaps, the most pure, being in 
fact water distilled by nature. The water in welds 
is impregnated with various matters, according to 
the different earths or minerals, through which it 
passes in its way to the springs which feed the 
well. 

Springs are of various kinds. Some are very 
hot, others extremely cold. They are all more or 
less impregnated with salt, sulphur, metals, earths, 
and airs of different kinds, which render them me- 
dicinal, in many diseases. Sea or salt water is 
heavier than fresh, in proportion to its saltness. 

Salt. Salt is extracted from salt water, obtain- 
ed either from the sea, or the salt springs in the 
interior country, of which there are many, in dif- 
ferent parts of the world. 

Salt is also found in large masses in pits below 
ground, called rock salt. There is a curious pit of 
this kind in Poland. Salt springs, wherever found, 
it is supposed, pass through, and are impregnated 
by beds of salt. The island of Ormus^ at the bot- 
tom of the gulf of that name in Asia, is nothing but 
white hard salt, of which the inhabitants make the 
walls of their houses. There is not one spring of 
fresh water on the island, though it once (1622) 
contained 40,000 inhabitants. 

Tides. The Tides are produced partly by the 
attraction of the sun, but chiefly by that of the 
moon. The Jlux and reflux^ or flowing and ebbing 
of the tide, take place twice every 24 hours and 
50 minutes, which is a complete lunar day^ or the 

* See Ihe work of the fifth day, p. 10. . 



IfU: I.ARTiT. 41 

lime ojF the moon's apparent revolution round the 
earth from the meridian to the meridian again. 

When the tides are higher than ordinary, they 
are called spring tides ; when lower than ordinary. 
neap tides. Both kinds happen twice in every 
month : The former at new and full moon, the 
latter when the moon is in quadrature, or its first 
and last quarter. 

The tide rises different heights in different 
places. At the mouth of the river Indus, in Asia, 
it rises 30 feet. In the Bay of Fundy, in New- 
Brunswick, it rises from 50 to 60 feet, and flows so 
rapidly, as to overtake and overwhelm animals 
that are fleeing from it. 

Having given some account of what is in and 
npon the earth, I will now describe what is above it ; 
viz. the Air, Heat and Cold, Light, Winds, and 
Clouds. With a short account of these, the subject 
of Physical or Natural Geography will be con- 
cluded. 

Air, Air is that invisible fluid with which this 
Globe is surrounded, on which depends the life of 
man and all other animals, the conveyance of all 
sounds, and the growth of all vegetables. 

The science which treats of Am is called Pneu- 
matics. 

The whole body of air is called the Atmosfhere. 
Us height has been generally supposed to be about 
45 miles ; but it is now found that it cannot be ex 
actly ascertained. 

Beyond the Atmosphere, and extending through 
the immensity of space, is, in the opinion of Mr. 
Locke and Sir Isaac Newton, a rare fluid, or 
species of matter, infinitely more pure and jsubtle 
tlmn tjie air we breathe, called Ether. 

B 2 



4.^ AN^CIENT GEOGRAPHY. 

The weight of the Atmosphere upon every 
square inch of the earth's surface, is found, by ex^ 
periments made by the Air pump ^"^ to be 15 pounds. 
It is computed that a middle sized man, whose body 
contains about 15 square feet of surface, is press- 
ed by 32,400 pounds of air, all around. But be- 
cause this enormous weight is equal on all sides, 
it is not in the least degree felt by us. 

The air is commonly said to be heavy when it 
is thick and foggy ; but it is then thinner and lighter 
than usual. 

The air is expanded by heat, and condensed 
or compressed by cold. 

Air is the proper vehicle of sound^ and necessa- 
ry to give us the sense of hearing. Where no air 
is, there can be no sound. Without air we should 
have no music, no smell, no light, nor should we 
be able to converse with each other. All soimd^^ 
whether loud or soft, move about 13 miles a 
minute. 

The strength of sound is greatest in cold and 
dense air, and least in that w^hich is warm and rari- 
fied. Sounds have been heard, in cold countries, 
nearly 200 miles ; in warm, above 100 miles. 

Two inseparable qualities of the air, are Heat 
and Cold. 

Heat, Heat is the sensation caused by the ap- 
proach or touch of fire. By it most bodies are 
expanded and enlarged in their dimensions ; fluid 
substances are carried off in vapor ; solid bodies 
become luminous, and are likewise dissipated ; or, 

* The Jlir pump is a maclime iuveuted by Gueric, a Prus^ 
sian, al)out the year Ifci?^, «iid improved by Boyle and I 
others in England, and lately the Rev, Dr. Prince, of Sale m 
in M-assacfeusetts, 



THE EARTH- 4.3 

if incapable of evaporation, become fluid, and at 
last are vitrified, or converted into glass. 

Animal and vegetable life are thought to depend 
on heat ; and by it the most important operations 
in nature are performed. 

Wildfire^ a composition invented by one Calll- 
nicus, which burns with the greatest violence un- 
der water, is supposed to consist of sulphur, pitch, 
gum, bitumen, &c. With this fire the Greeks, in 
the year of our Lord 660, are said to have burnt 
the whole Saracen fleet, in which were 30,000 
men. 

Cold. The cause of Cold is as uncertain as the 
nature of fire. Some maintain that it is only the 
absence of heat ; others that it is a real substance. 
Cold, when increased to a certain degree, pro- 
duces in fluids, congelation ov freezing. Different 
degrees of cold are requisite for the freezing of 
different fluids. Water, (next to oils, fat, &c.) 
congeals with the least degree of cold ; then vine- 
gar, wine, brandy, spirits of wine, and last of all, 
mercury, or quicksilver. 

The instrument made use of in measuring the 
different degrees of heat and cold in the atmos- 
phere, is called a Thermometer. 

The action of freezing is always instantaneous. 
Ice is lighter than the same bulk of water, and 
this is the reason of its floating on the surface. 
Boiled water is more easily frozen than that which 
has not been boiled ; and that which is a little 
agitated, than that which is entirely at rest. 

In 1740, a palace was built of ice at Petersburg, 
in Russia, 52 feet long, and 20 feet high. Even 
cannon were made of it, from one of which, a 
ball was discharged through an oak plank, two 



44 ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 

inches thick, at the distance of 60 paces ; and iliv. 
cannon did not burst with the explosion. 

Lights as defined by Sir Isaac Newton, rather 
obscurely, is that quality or action of the transparent 
inedium by which we see. The truth is, the nature 
of light is very little known. We can only k\iow 
its properties and effects. 

The rays of light fly with amazing swiftness, at 
the rate, it is computed of 11,875,000 miles in a 
minute, or more than a million times swifter 
than a cannon ball, which is computed to move 
8 miles in a minute. Light is found to proceed 
from both animal and vegetable substances in a 
putrid state. 

That appearance called Ignis fatuus^ Will with 
a JVisp^ or Jack o'^lanihorn^ seen commonly in damp 
places, in burying grounds, and near dunghills, 
and which has so often frightened people, is of the 
same nature as the light produced from putrid sub- 
stances. Newton calls it a vapor, shining with- 
out heat. 

The rays of light proceeding from the sun. 
are of seven difl'erent colors ; rec?, orange^ yellow^ 
green^ blue^ indigo^ violet. These are called 
primary colors^ and form the rainbow; and by a 
proper mixture of these, all other colors are 
produced. 

The Korthern Light^ called the Aurora Borealis. 
a phenomenon unknown to the ancients, is sup- 
posed to proceed from electrical matter in the at- 
mosphere. This remarkable phenomenon or ap- 
pearance, was first observed in London, in 1560. 
Since the year 1716, it has been more frequent. 
It gave great alarm to the people in New-England 
about 80 years ago, when it was first discovered. 
They believjed £fe?it^he worH was about to be set 



THE fiARTH. 45 

on fire, aud the day of judgment to commence. 
It is now viewed with unconcern. 

Winds, Wind is air in motion, and is occasioned 
chiefly by the variations of heat and cold, by which 
the air is either rarified or made thinner, or con- 
densed^ or made thicker. If the air by any means 
is more rarified, or rendered lighter in one placQ 
than another, the denser or weightier air will rush 
in from all parts, to restore the equilibrium. If 
these currents are furious and violent, they are 
called hurricanes^ gales of wind^ and storms ; if 
strong and uniform, winds ; if gentle, breezes^ or 
soft gales. 

The winds, in a space of about 30 degrees north 
of the equator, in the open sea, and less on land, 
blow constantly from the north-east ; and in a space 
of the same extent south of the equator, from the 
southeast.' These are called the Trade Winds. 

In the Indian ocean, the trade winds blow one 
half the year from the south-east or north-east^ and 
the other half from the opposite quarters. These 
are called Monsoons. 

On the ocean the winds are more regular than 
on land, because the temperature of the sea is 
more equal than that of the land. The winds 
are more violent in mountainous places, than on 
plains. 

When from sudden rarefication, or any other 
causes, contrary curreiits of air meet in the same 
spot, a Whirlwind is the consequence. A Wa- 
ter Spout is no other than a whirlwind at sea. 

Manifold are the good effects of wind. It pu- 
rifies the air, moderates the heat, conveys the 
clouds from one place to another, dries wet lands 
and damp houses, chases away the fogs, promotes 
vegetation by the motion it gives to trees and 



4,6 ANCIENT OEdGRAPHY. 

plants, and aids navigation and commerce, by 
which the inhabitants in different and distant 
parts of the world have intercourse with each 
other. 

The velocity of the wind, at a height from the 
earth, free from obstruction, has been calculated 
as follows ; a strong wind 61 miles an hour, a brisk 
gale 21 miles, a gentle breeze about 9 miles. 

Clouds. From the watery vapors raised by the 
heat of the sun, from the sea and other waters, and 
from the moist surface of the earth, are formed, 
the Clouds, which being condensed by cold, de- 
scend in rains, fogs, and dews. 

The Rainbow, with its beautiful colors, is 
produced by the rays of the sun, shining upon the 
falling drops of rain. 

When the watery particles are frozen in the 
atmosphere, they descend in Snow, Hail, and 
Hoar Frost. 

In Peru, Egypt, and the island of Madeira, it 
seldom or never rains ; and in some places under 
the equator, it is said to rain for one half the year, 
and to be fair the other. 

Clouds highly charged with electricity or 
lightning, in southern climates, sometimes produce 
the most fatal effects. A cloud of this kind, in 
the island of Java, in the East Indies, August 11, 
1772, descended on a mountain in the night time, 
and destroyed every thing near the top of it; 
about 2,140 people, and a vast number of cattle 
were killed by it. Another cloud of the same 
kind, at Malta, an island in the Mediterranean sea, 
Oct. 29, 1757, destroyed many houses and ships, 
and about 200 people. 

The height of clouds is not very great. The 
■f<^ji? of ve.ry high mountairts are usualljf ajjove^ 



ilieui; as Etna, the Alps, the Audes iu South 
America, and many others. Hence, from the 
tops of these mountains a person may, in perfect 
security, hear the thunder roll, and see the streaks 
and flashes of lightning darting over the clouds far 
below him, which affords one of the most sublime 
and awful scenes in nature. 

Lightning and thunder, which fill us often* 
times with so much terror, have their use ; 
and so have the snow and frosts. The lightning 
promotes a circulation of the air, and cools the 
sultry heat of summer. Snois) prevents the frost 
from penetrating too deep into the earth ; it fa- 
cilitates travelling, by making a soft and smooth 
bed over rough ways ; makes a good manure 
for the ground ; and by its whiteness diminishes 
the darkness of long winter nights. Frost kills the 
seeds of disease which float in the air, or lie upon 
the ground ; it braces and strengthens the animal 
frame ; mellows and fertilizes the ground ; de- 
stroys hurtful insects and worms ; it also facilitates 
travelling over rivers, ponds, and lakes, and low 
swampy grounds, which without it would be 
impassable. 

Thus, '-Fire and hail, snow and vapor, fulfil 
the word of the Lord." 

Q^uestions on Sectian IF, 

Is the earth, according to Dr. Goldsmith, •• pi:i'^ 
vileged beyond all the other planets, by its hap- 
py middle distance from the centre of the sy» 
tern?" 

What is said of the interior and exterior plat. / 
ia this respect ? 



4§ ANClEJST GEidGilAPHy, 

What, of the earth ? 

Is it with reason, that mankind consider them- 
shelves as peculiarly favored in regard to the 
situation of the dwelling-place which the Creator 
has allotted to them ? 

What science was considered in the last sec- 
tion? 

What are we to understand by Physical Geogra* 
phy? 

What science is the subject of this section? 

Give Goldsmith's definition of Natural History ! 

Define animate bodies ! 

Into how many classes are they divided ? 

Who are included in the^rs^ class? 

What are they called ? 

Why are they so called ? 

Name the second class, and why so named? 

The third— the fourth. 

Define the science of Anatomy ? 

What is Zoology ? 

What is Ornithology? 

What is Icthyology ? 

What is Entomology ? 

What is Helminthology ? 

What is Physiology ? 

How are inanimate bodies divided ? 

What properties have vegetables in common 
with animals ? 

By what properties are they distinguished? 

What productions of the earth are called vesie- 
tables ? ^ 

What are obtained from animals, besides their 
flesh and skins ? 

What from whales ? 

What do the ocean, seas, lakes, end rivers pro- 
duce for the use of man ? 



THE EAR 11 f. 49 

What are produced naturally, or by distillation,. 
from vegetables ? 

What else do they furnish ? 

From what is Cider made? Perry? Wine? 
Vinegar ? Brandy ? Gin^ or Geneva ? Whiskey ? 
Rum and Sugar? Molasses? Beer? Snuff? 
Maple Sugar? 

What is Water ? 

What does Sir Isaac Newton say of this ele- 
ment ? 

W^hat does Moses say on this subject ? ^ 

What is said of rain-water ? 

What of well-water ? 

What of Springs ? 

Which is heaviest, salt or fresh water? 

How is salt produced ? 

Where is the rock-salt found ? 

What is said of the island of Ormus ? 

How many inhabitants lived on this island in 
1662? 

How are the Tides produced ? 

How often do they ebb andjlow ? 

Define spring and neap tides? 

How often, and in what state of the moon do 
these happen? 

How high do the tides rise in the river Indus ? 

How high in the bay of Fundy, and what eifects 
sometimes follow ? 

What are next described, as above the earth ? 

What is Air ? 

W^hat is the science called which treats of air? 

What is the whole body of air called ? 

What is the supposed height of the atmos- 
phere ? 

t 



What, in the opinion of Mr. Locke and Sir 
I. Newton, is beyond the atmosphere, in infinite 
space ? 

What is this fluid called ? 

What is the weight of a square inch of the at* 
mosphere ? 

By what instrument is this ascertained ? 

How many pounds of the atmosphere press 
upon a middle sized man ? 

Why is he not crushed by this enormous 
weight ? 

In thick foggy weather is the air lighter or 
heavier than usual ? 

What are the effects of heat and cold on the 
air? 

Is air necessary to sound and hearing? 

What would be the consequences, if the air 
should be removed ? 

How many miles in a minute do sounds move ? 

Is the strength of sound greatest in cold or hot 
weather ? 

How far have sounds been heard in cold wea 
ther? 

How far in warm? 

What are the qualities of the air? 

Describe heat^ its effects, and uses! 

Of what is wildfire supposed to consist ? 

Who invented it ? 

Where does it bura with the greatest vio^ 
lence ? 

What did the Greeks once effect by its use ? 

When did this event happea ? 

What is said of the cause of cold ? 

What are its effects on fluids ? 

What fluids are congealed with the least de- 
gree ef cold? 



What next? 

What last of all? 

What is a ihermometer^ aod its use ? 

Is the action of freezing instantaneous ? 

Which is heaviest, ice or water ? 

Which freezes soonest boiled or unboiled wa- 
ter? — Water that is agitated^ or that which is at 
rest ? 

Was a palace of ice once erected ? 

Where? 

When? 

Of what length and hreadth ? 

What is said of a cannon made of ice, and of its 
effects ? 

AVhat is Light ? 

Do we know any thing more about it than its 
properties and effects ? 

How many miles in a minute do the ravs of 
light fly? 

How much ewifter is this than the motion of a 
cannon ball ? 

From what substances is light produced ? 

State what is said of the Jack oUatitern 1 

Name the seven primary colors which form the 
rainbow ! 

Are all other colors formed from various mix- 
tures of these ? 

Whence proceeds the Korthern Lights or Aurora 
Borealis ? 

When wag it first observed in London ? 

How long ago in New-England? 

What was then thought of it ? 

How is it now viewed? 

What is z<^^Vlrf, iind ktw is it produced ? 



52 ANCIEKT GEOGRAPH) . 

When the currents of the wind are furious and 
violent^ what are they called ? If strong and uni" 
form ? If gentU ? If soft ? 

Describe the Trade-rvinds ! — -The Monsoons! 

Are the winds most regular, on the ocean, or 
on the land? 

Why? 

In which are winds most violent, in mountain- 
ous or plain countries ? 

How are whirlwinds produced ? 

What is a water-spout F 

What are the good effects of wind ? 

How swift do the various kinds of wind move ? 

How are the clouds formed? 

What do they produce when condensed by cold ? 

How is the rainbow formed ? 

When watery particles are frozen in the atmos- 
phere, what follows ? 

In what places is there no rain ? 

State the effects produced by lightning, and 
name the places where, and the time when these 
effects happened ! 

What is the height of the clouds ? 

Are the tops of high mountains above them ? 

Describe the situation and prospects of a person 
standing above the clouds, and looking down on 
them, during a thunder-storm ! 

State the benefits of lightning and thunder — of 
snow Bnd frost. 

What does the Psalmist say of '^ Fire and hall 
snow and vapor ?"' 



54 ANCIENT QEQQRAPHV. 

tude ; all south, in south latitude. From top 19 
bottom, or north to south, meridians, or lines of 
longitude are drawn. Longitude in the United 
States begins at the meridian which passes through 
the city of Washington, our capital.* All places 
west of this line are in west longitude ; all east of 
it in east longitude. The degrees of latitude are 
marked on the sides of the map ; of longitude on the 
equator, and top and bottom of the map. A degree 
(^) is 60 geographical, of 69^ English miles. 

The natural divisions of the earth have already 
been given, page 28 to 31, which should here be 
re-examined. The pupil may derive from an 
inspection of the map, a better and more correct 
idea of a continent^ island^ peninsula^ isthmus^ pro^ 
Tnontory^ or eape ; of an inland sea^ bay. lake^ har- 
hor^ 4^c. ; of the two tropics^ polar circles^ and oth- 
er circles on the globe, than can be given by any 
description in words. It will be a useful exercise 
also to require the pupil to define in his own lan- 
guage, a continent, island, circle on the globe, &c, 
after looking at each on the map. 

[Note. — la Geography Made Easy^ or the abridgement 
of the American Universal Geography, the next book to be 
put into the hands of the pupil after this, in order to ob- • 
tain a systematic and thorough knowledge of Geography, , 
will be found a more full and complete account of the ' 
topics concisely treated in this and the two preceding sec- 
tions, and to that work Preceptors are referred.] 

This section containing what we have now 
to say of " the heavens and the earth," as the 
dwelling- place of man, will be concluded with 

* Most of our maps have London, or Greenwich, in Eng-; 
land, as there first meridian, as well as WashingtoiK Onw 
at top, the other at bottom. 



THE EARTH, db 

The divisiom of time. Time commenced at the 
creation of the world, and will end at its destruc- 
tion. Then '^time will be no more." 

The ancients, for certain purposes, divided the 
whole period of the world's existence, into " seven 
agesi'' 

1 . The first age of the world began at the cre- 
ation, and ended at the flood, 1656 years. 

2. The second was reckoned from the flood, 
to the call of Abram and his settlement at Haran, 
426 years. 

3. The thirds from the call of Abram to the 
release of the children of Israel from the bondage 
of Egypt, 430 years. 

4. The ybiirt^, from the time the children of 
Israel left Egypt, to the building of the temple, 
479 years. 

5. The fifth^ from the building of the temple, 
to the fall and degradation of the proud Nebuch- 
adnezzar f" 443 years. 

6. The sixth^ from the fall and destruction of 
Nebuchadnezzar, to the birth of Jesus Christ, 
566 years. 

7. The seventh age of the world embraces the 
whole period, from the birth of Christ to the 
end of the world ; a period, it is supposed, of 
3000 years ; making in the whole 7000 years, 
which the world is to continue in existence. 

There are other divisions of time marked out 
by the motions of the heavenly bodies, int6 
days, months, and years ; also into day and night, 
summer and winter, spring and autumn, seed- 
time axid harvest. 

* Daniel iv. 29, 34. 



<,y(9 AJS'ClErvT (irEOGil.AFHV. 

Questions on Se-tion \ . 

What is a map ? 

How is the land distinguished from the water? 

How are rivers described ? 

How mountains^ forests^ roads ^ swamps and rae- 
rasses^ sandbanks^ and shallozn's^ chief cities^ towns^ 
forts, light-houses^ course of winds ? 

What point of the compass is the top of the 
map, and by what is this point denoted ? 

What point the bottom ? 

What the right, and what the left hand ? 

What are the lines called which are drawn 
from top to bottom of the map ? 

What those from side to side ? 

Point on the map, of the world No. I. to the north 
and south poles^ to the Zenith and Xadir. the Equa*- 
lor^ and describe them. 

W^hence is latitude reckoned } 

What are meridians^ and how are they drawn 
©n maps? 

Through what city does our first meridiao 
pass ? 

Is longitude reckoned east and west from thi^ 
line ? 

What is the length of a degree in geographical 
•and in English miles ? 

Look at plates No. IV. and I., and point to a 

. continent, island, peninsula, isthmus, promontory 

or cape, to an inland sea, bay, lake, harbor ; to 

the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, and the polar 

circles ? 

When did time begin, and when will it end ? 

Into how many ages did the ancientB divide- fie 
Xvhole period of time ? 



THE EARTH. i7 

When did the first age begin and end ? 
How many years did it embrace ? 
When did the second age begin and end ? 
How many years did it embrace ? 
When did the third age begin and end ? 
How many years did it embrace ? 
When did the fourth age begin and end ? 
How many years did it embrace ? 
When did the fifth age begin and end ? 
How many years did it embrace ? 
When did the sixth year begin and end 2 
How many years did it embrace ? 
When did the seventh age begin and end ? 
How many years is it to embrace ? 
How long is it supposed the earth and heavens 
will exist from their creation ? 
What other divisions of time are there ? 
How are these marked out ? 



SECTION VL 



THE CREATION, CHARACTER, AND INHERITANCE OF MAN, 
MESOPOTAMIA, AND THE RIVERS AND IIJi^CES WITHIN 
AND ROUND ABOUT IT, WHICH ARE MENTIONED BY 



MOSES. 



The manner in which Moses has described the 
creation of " the heavens and the earth," ob- 
viously shows, that they were intended to be 
the magnificent dwelling-place of some exalted 
race of beings, favorites of their Creator. This 
magnificent dwelling-place, in its several parts, 
has been described, and we return again to give a 
more particular account of the origin and charac- 
ter of that race of beings, who were to inhabit it, 
and of the region w^here they first dwelt. 

In the account already given of the w^ork of 
the sixth day,* we are informed of the creation of 
man, and the formal consignment to him of the 
inferior creatures, and of the whole furniture of 
the earlh, as his inheritance, to be used and gov- 
erned by him as its lord, according to his pleasure. 
Further particulars relating to the creation of 
man, the place on the earth where he was formed 
and destined to live, are given by Moses, which 
here claim attention. The additional facts con- 
cerning the creation of man related by Moses are 
these — ''And the Lord God formed man of the 
du^t," or mould, "of the ground and breathed 



T.J IE EARTH. 59 

into him the breath of life, and man became a liv- 
ing soul." "And the Lord God said, It is not 
good that man should be alone, I will make an 
help meet for hini." ''And the Lord God caused 
a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept ; and 
he took one of the ribs and closed up the liesh in- 
stead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God 
had taken from man, he made." or builded '• a 
woman, and brought her unto the man. And Ad- 
am said, This is now bone of mj bones, and tlesh 
of mj flesh, she shall be called Woman, because 
she was taken out of Man ; and they shall be one 
ilesh.'^ 

We have a further account of the exalted rank 
held by man, among the creatures of God, and of 
the formal consignment to him of the earth and 
heavefts which he had created, and all their fur- 
niture, as his inheritance, in the 8th Psalm, 
•'Thou, oh Lord, hast made man a little lower 
than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory 
and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion 
over the works of thine hand ; thou hast put all 
things under his feet." 

It will he proper here to introduce some ac- 
count of the traditions of several of our Indian 
nations, respecting the creation of man. Though 
their ideas on this subject are wild and fan- 
ciful, yet their accounts have a striking similar- 
ity to that given by Moses, of which they must 
have retained some traditionary knowledge. 

The following was communicated to Major 
Marston, by Masco, a chief of the Sauks, a tribe of 
Indians on the Mississippi river ; and by Major 
Marston to the author. 

'' The Great Spirit, in the first place created from 
the dirt of the earth, two men ; bat finding that 



60 ANCIEKJ GEDGl^AfHX, 

these alone would not answer his purpose, he took 
from each man a rib, and made two women ; and 
from these four sprang all red men. 

'' The white men were made of the fine dust of 
the earth, as they know more than Indians." 

Another account given by a chief of the Iro- 
quois, is summarily the following : 

'' After the Great Spirit had formed the world, 
he made the birds and beasts. He then made 
man; but having formed him white, and ver}'' 
imperfect and ill-tempered, he placed him on one 
side of the earth where he now inhabits. As the 
Great Spirit was not pleased with his work, he 
took of black clay and made the Negro. This 
was much better than the white man, but was 
still imperfect. He then procured a piece of red 
clay, from which he formed the Red Man perfect- 
ly to his mind. He placed him on a great island, 
separate from the white and black men, and gave 
him rules for his conduct, promising' him happi- 
ness in proportion as he should obey them." 

For the progenitors of the human race, named 
Adam and Eve, " the Lord God planted a garden 
eastward in Eden," and as its name imports, " it i 
was the centre of every terrestrial pleasure. I 
The munificence of the Creator stored it with 
every plant, and tree, and flower, that was plea- 
sant to the e3^e, grateful to the smell, and adapted 
to the sustenance of sinless man, A river went 
out of Eden to water it, whose ample and re- 
freshing streams, so necessary to the very exist 
ence of an oriental garden, visiting every part of 
the sacred enclosure, diffused a perpetual verdure, 
and imparted to every plant a beauty, vigor, and 



TOE CREATION OF ftUN. 61 

iertility, perhaps unknown to any other district of 
that delightful region." * 

After all the investigations of learned visiters 
of this interesting region, and of commentators on 
their works, we have no certainty as to the pre- 
cise situation of this Garden of Eden. After as 
full an examination of the subject as very ample 
means have furnished, I have located this garden 
as may be seen on the map. The land or country 
called Eden, in which the garden of this name was 
placed, lay, according to Moses, on the banks of a 
large river, which on leaving the southern limit of 
that country, divided into four heads, or four rivers, 
here uniting their waters, which had the names of 
Pison^ Gihon^ Hiddekel^ and Euphrates. Different 
authors lay down these rivers on their maps va- 
riously. There is no certainty that any of them 
are correct. The little map in this book is com- 
piled from the latest and best authorities, and 
gives sufficient information for our purpose. 

We have placed the Garden^ as will be seen in 
the map, " on an eastern branch of the Euphrates^ 
as laid down in Shuckford's map, which after it 
leaves the Garden receives from the north the 
Hiddekel or Tigris. " That is it," saith Moses, 
^' which goeth towards the east of Assyria," or, as 
it should properly be rendered, before^ or over 
against Assyria, as this river washed its western 
border."t From this junction of these two rivers, 
there issued towards the east, the Gihon^ '^ which 
compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia," or Cush, 
as it is rendered in the margin of our Bibles. 
From the same s"»urce, toward the south-west, 

* Paxton, Vol. p. 7 and 8. 
t Paxton. 

F 



t?!'2 A^'ClENT GEOGlRAFaV. 

issued the Pison^ "which compiisseth the vvh^^le 
hind of Havilah." The Euphrates and Hiddekeh 
or Tigris, are as described on the map, 

MESOPOTAMIA. 

Though some have located the Garden of Eden 
and the places which Moses has connected with it, 
in Syria, and others in India, far toward China, I 
think there is little doubt that it was in Mesopo- 
tamia, (which signifies between two rivers^) and 
near the spot where it is placed on the map. Ad- 
mitting this to be fact, Mesopotamia^ though little 
known in Geography, is in truth, the most inter- 
esting part of our globe. 

Boundaries. Mesopotamia on the north, in its 
largest extent, embraces the southern part of what 
is now called Armenia. On the east it was bound- 
ed by the river Pliddekel or Tigris, which sepa- 
rated it from Assyria, whose capital was Nineveh. 
On the south was the land of Cush, Chaldea, or 
Eastern Ethiopia, several names given to the 
same tract of country, which separated it from 
the Persian Gulf. According to late information 
from Mr. Wolf the Missionary, its southern bound- 
ary extends to the Persian Gulf. Its western 
boundary was the Euphrates, which divided it 
from that celebrated portion of the globe, which 
God gave to Abraham and his seed after him, call- 
ed the Holy Land, the Land of Promise, and the 
Land of Israel. Mesopotamia lies between 30^ and 
38° N. lat. and between 40° and 50° E. Ion. 

General Observations, — On various accounts 
this neglected country claims the particular at- 
tention of geographers. Here man was created 
and lived in the garden God prepared for 
bioi, duriiag the short period of his innojcenciy; 



MESOPOTAMIA.. fe>.' 

lif re lie teiuiied and fell, and was driven iVom 
the garden, and the earth was cursed for hib 
sake. Here the first children of the human race 
were born, Cain and Abel ; and the first murder 
was committed, a crime which there is reason to 
believe was predominant among the antediluvians. 
Here the ark was built by Noah, cf gopher or 
cypress wood, and on or near its northern border, 
it rested on Mount Ararat, which is '' alwa^ s 
whitened with snow."* 

Here Babel was built about 100 years after the 
flood,! and the language of its builders confounded. 
'* Till this time, nearly 2000 years after the cre- 
ation, there was but one language spoken by man- 
kind." This country was the centre from whence 
" the Lord scattered mankind abroad upon the 
face of all the earth," forming the seeds of the 
different nations. 



* M. Brmi. — "-It is probable that Uie ark rested on the 
Mouiitains of Ararat in Armenia, one of the suaimils of the 
Gordian range, which rising to a stupendous height above 
the rest of the chnin, overlooks the rich and extensive plains 
of Babylonia " — Paxion, 

t About 100 years after the flood, Eber had a son born, 
whom he named *' Peleg^ because in his time Ike earth was 
dividedj^^ i. e. the lan2;uHge of mankind was confounded, nnd 
they in tribe:*, composed of those who spake the same hm- 
gu;\ge, be^an to be dispersed in the earth. '] he number 
oi languages which arose from the confusion at Babel, from 
ihe words of Moses, (Deut. xxxii. 8.) has been supposed 
to be 70. '' When the Most High divided to the nations 
their inherifance, ichen he separated ihe sons of Adam^ he set 
ih- bounds of the people according to the nuniber cf the chil- 
dren of Israel,'^ i, e. '* he divided them into 70 natiofjs, 
whrch was the number of the children of Israel when thoy 
went into Egvpt." The Greek and Latin fathers make 
Ihcm r^.SMford, Vol. I. p. 07, 



In this country the first towns and cities wea:fe 
built, and the first kingdoms were esiablished. 
Bordering on this country to the west, in the east- 
ern part of the thirsty, barren deserts of Arabia 
Petrae, lay the land of JYod^ the place of Cain's 
exile, and the scene of his wanderings after the 
murder of Abel, a region admirably adapted to 
the purpose of his punishment.* In this country, 
called in the Hebrew, Aram Naharaim, was " Ur 
of the Chaldees," where Abraham, " the renown- 
ed founder of the Hebrew nation,! was born, and 
whence by divine direction he migrated with 
Lot his nephew, to the destined future inherit- 
ance of himself and his posterity. Here dwelt 
Chedarlaomer, king of Elam, and the other kings 
who fought with the king of Sodom and the other 
kings of the plain, and took Lot, who was rescued 
by Abraham.| Here Jacob lived with Laban, and 
here were born the twelve patriarchs, sons of 
Jacob, who gave thpir names to the twelve 
tribes of Israel; also, Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and 
Rachel, the wives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 
It was here, in aftertimes that Alexander the 
Great, gave the fatal blow to the powerful mon- 
archy of Persia; and here in still later periods, 
Trajan, Julian, and Heraclius, at the head of the 
Roman legions, encountered in a number of bloody 
battles, the invincible squadrons of Parthia. 

Questions on Section VL 

What were the heavens and the earth intended 
by their Maker to be ? 

Did God give the dominion of the world, after 
he had finished it, to man as its lord and pro- 
prietor ? 

* ^rotiuJ', Paxtom t paxtmi, i Gen* xiv. 



Ti!E CREATION OF iilAN. ^p 

Of what was man made ? 

Of what was woman made, and in what mai^- 
ner ? 

What did Adam say when Eve was brought t.0 
him? 

Do the manner in which man was created, 
and the splendid dwelling-place which his Maker 
prepared for him, show his exalted rank among his 
creatures? 

What does the Psalmist say on this subject ? 

State what our Indians think of the origin of our 
race— first what Masco the Sauk Chief, has said, 
then the account given by the Iroquois Chief 

What did God do further for the particular acr 
commodation of Adam and Eve ? 

Describe this garden. 

Point to it on the map, and to the four river's 
mentioned in the Bible, as connected with this 
garden. 

What is the name of the country which c/on- 
tained this garden and these rivers ? 

Describe the boundaries of Mesopotamia ? 

What country lies north of it ? 

What east ? 

What river separates it from Assyria ? 

Point to the capital of Assyria, and state wkat is 
>aaid of it by the prophet Jonah. 

Give the southern boundary of Mesopotamia:, 
and point to the places named on the map. 

V'hat river forms its western boundary ? 

From what country does this river separate 
Mesopotamia ? 

On what accounts does this country claim our 
particular attention ? 

[Here it will be easy for the teacher to supply 
the question^, which shall draw from the pupil all 
V 5 



6,6 ANCIRKT GEGGRAPHy. 

the facts contained under the head of '' Genera! 
Observations," as, 

Where was man created ? 

Where did he live while he remained inno- 
cent? 

Where did Noah build the ark ? 

On what mountain did the ark rest after the 
iGlood ? 

In what range of mountains is Ararat supposed 
to be situated ? 

Point to it on the map. 

What is said to lie perpetually on its top ? 

What plains does this mountain overlook ? 

Where was the land of Nod to which Cain was 
banished after he slew his brother Abel ? 

Point to it on the map and describe the country. 

How long after the flood was Babel built, and the 
language of its builderg confounded ? 

How many languages arose out of this confusion ? 

And so of the re?t> 



SECTION Vlf. 



MESOPOTAMIA, CONTIIffUED. 



The Geological Features and Character ef this 
Country. 

These are very peculiar and striking;. What 
they were before the fall of man, or before the 
flood, Moses, our only authority, has given us no 
particular information. As it was the' spot on the 
globe selected by God himself to be the dwelling- 
place of man, whom he had made in his own 
image, we may presume that it originally com- 
bined every thing, as to its local and relative situ- 
ation, climate, soil, productions, kc. which could 
render it an abode of perfect enjoyment. The 
curse and the flood have obviously produced sad 
and awful changes in the character of this inter- 
esting region, though we cannot particularly de- 
scribe them, because we cannot compare its pre- 
sent with its original state. It is very remarka- 
ble for situation, in the very centre bf the habit- 
able earth, and by its navigable rivers and vicini- 
ty to internal seas and the Great Indian Ocean, it 
has easy access to all parts of the world. It bor-, 
ders on the favored country which God selettied 
aEd gave to his chosen people. The late geo- 
grapher,* before quoted, has given the following 

* Mttlte Bmn. 



6S AiSr'ClKNT 6E©tRAFHY. 

striking account of Mesopotamia, including Arme- 
nia on the north, and Irac Arabia on the south 
west. '^ There are few countries on the globe, 
where, in so small a space, so many striking con- 
trasts are found united. Within an extent often de- 
grees of latitude, we have at Bagdad a heat equal 
to that of Senegambia (in Africa,) and on the 
summit of Ararat, eternal snows. The forests of 
firs and oaks in Mesopotamia, join those of palms 
and orange-trees. The roarings of the lions of 
Arabia echo to the bowlings of the bears of 
Mount Taurus. We might indeed say that Africa 
and Siberia had here given each other a meeting. 
This near approach of climates so opposite, prin- 
cipally arises from the great differences which 
are found in elevation. Armenia, which is a very 
elevated plain, is encompassed on all sides by 
lefty mountains." 

A large portion of the southern part of this 
eeuntry is now a desert, a continuation of that of 
Arabia, on whose burning sands grow, " in de- 
tached spots, at great distances, saline plants.-' 
Immense tracts are covered with wormwood. 
The scanty supply of water found here is gene- 
rally bitter or brackish. The lakes are stagnant^ 
saltish, and putrid, whence arise those exhalations 
which, when put in motion, create that fatal wind 
c^alled the Samoom or SamieL When this dread- 
ful wind rises, the sun seems covered with blood, 
from the dust which is raised to an immense 
feeight. Animals, to escape its fatal effects, in- 
stinctively lay themselves flat on the ground : it 
^uflbcates any living being exposed to its rn- 
jRueBee.* 

* M. Brun. 



THE CREAXIQN OF RfAN. 4 3 

In the northern parts of Mesopotamia, afeout 
Diarbekir, are mountains of moderate height, in- 
terspersed with pleasant and rich valleys, tyeJl 
watered, yielding grapes, olives, melons, and 
other fruits ; tobacco, silk, wool, &lc. ; mines of 
gold and silver, and particularly of copper, are 
found in this region. The forests of gopher or 
cypress wood and other trees, which supplied 
Noah with timber for the ark, and afterwards Al- 
exander and Trajan for the building of their fleets, 
are yet to be seen, diminished in number and size, 
on the banks of the Tigris. The ancient city of 
Diarbekir, has 40,000 inhabitants living in 8,000 
houses, built of lava. The city of Merdin, most 
extraordinary for its situation, lately visited by Mr. 
Wolf the missionarj^, has 3,000 houses, and about 
15,000 inhabitants. It overlooks the extensive 
plains of lower Mesopotamia. ^'It is ascended 
by a stair-case cut in the rock more than a mile 
high, at the top of which is the gate." It \< 
without walls, depending, as well it may, on i(< 
situation for its defence. " The Turks hyper- 
boiically say, its inhabitants never see a bird fly- 
ing over their town."* 

The small fertile country of Mosul, south of 
Merdin, lies on both sides of the Tigris, embracing 
the ancient Nineveh, no trace of which is now in 
existence. The village of Nunia now occupies 
its place on the east bank of the Tigris. The 
city of Mosul contains 60 or 70,000 inhabitants, 
8,000 of whom are Christians. South of this, at 
no great distance, is the site of the garden of 
Eden 



,79 .ANCIENT GLOGRAl-l^Y. 

The western part of Mesupolainia, lies uii ihe 
cast bank of the Euphrates, and at present bears 
the name of Orfa. whose capita] of this name has 
30 or 40,000 inhabitants. North-east of Orfa, at 
a short distance, '^ there is an immense number 
of artificial caves in reguh^r arrangement, pre- 
senting the remains of a subterranean city.* Ila- 
ran, known in the time of Abraham, w^as in this 
country. 

Proceeding farther south, you enter the fa- 
mous country of Babylonia, the southern district 
of Mesopotamia, the theatre of ancient wonders. 
Here were the plains of Shinar, on which the 
tower of Babel was built, which was afterwards 
converted into the temple of Belus, the most 
magnificent in the world. Here Babylon w^as sit- 
uated, the largest city ever built. It had 100 
gates of brass. Its wails were 60 miles in cir- 
cumference, 87 feet thick, and 35 feet high. Al- 
exander the Great, conqueror of the world, died 
here. For the wickedness of its inhabitants it was 
long ago destroyed. 

At Bagdat, the second Babylon, situate where 
Ihe Tigris and Euphrates approach within six 
hours w^alk of each other, the Desert passes into 
•an immense meadow, whose soil is alluvia], form- 
ing the garden of Asia. Springs of naptha and 
bitumen in great number, are found here ; the 
latter of w^hich furnished cement or mortar for 
the builders of Babel and of Babylon. The black 
bitumen serves instead of oil. It flows into the 
Tigris in great quantities, and the boatmen some- 
times set it on fire, which exhibits the appearance. 

* M. Brua. 



MESOPOTAMIA. *71 

oi a l)uruiug river. Bagdat has 80,000 inhabitants, 
50,000 of whom are Arabs. Helleh, a flourishing 
manufacturing town, situated in a forest of palms, 
is supposed to have been built of bricks taken 
from the ruins of Babjdon. The celebrated tower 
of Nimrod or Babel, on the plains of Shinar, is 
now an immense square mass of ruinous walls, si>L 
miles from Helleh. 

Such was the country first inhabited by man, 
his birth-place, whence successively all nations 
emigrated, and to a description of which, for ob- 
vious reasons, we have devoted a larger numbei^ 
of our pages, than to any other equal portion of 
our globe. It is worthy to be noticed here, thilt 
this most remarkable country lies along side that 
which is next in point of interest, called the Land 
of Israel^ which at some future, and not distant 
period, is to be re-occupied by that remarkable 
people, who for nearly 1800 years have been 
scattered among all the large nations o'n the 
earth. 

Questions on Section VIL 

Of Vvhat does this section Ireat? 

What is said of the geographical features and 
character of Mesopotamia ? 

What were they before the fall of man? 

Why may we presume that it contained every 
thing necessary to make it an abode of periect 
enjoyment for man ? 

Can we determine what changes were pro- 
duced by the curse and flood ? 

Were they very sad and awful ? 



*yjl ANCIENT GEOGSAPHy. 

What fs there remarkable in the situation of 
this country ? 

Repeat the description given of it given by a 
late geographer. 

Is any part of it Desert ? 

Which part? 

Of what desert i^ this the continuation? 

What grows upon it ? 

What is said of its scanty supply of water ? 

What of the exhalations which rise from the 
putrid lakes ? 

What wind do these exhalations create when 
put in motion? 

How does the sun appear on the rising of the 
wind? 

What is the cause of this awful appearance ? 

What are the effects of this wind on men and 
animals exposed to it ? 

What do they do to avoid these fatal effects ? 

Give the description of the northern parts of 
Mesopotamia, its mountains, valleys, fruits, mines, 
and forests. 

What did Noah, Alexander, and Trajan build 
with the timber of these forests ? 

How many houses and inhabitants inDiarbekir? 

Of what are the houses built ? 

What is said of the city of Merdin ? 

How many houses and inhabitants has it: ? 

What plains does it overlook ? 

Kow do they get into the city ? 

How high is it ? 

Having no walls, on what does the city depend 
for its defence ? 

Repeat the saying of the Turks. 

Derscribe the situation of Mogul: 



.MESOPOTAMIA. < O- 

What ancient city does it embrace ? 

Are there any traces of Nineveh now to be 
found ? 

JVame the city erected on its ruins. 

How many inhabitants in Mosul city ? 

How many of these are Christians ? 

What noted place is south of Mosul ? 

On what river does the western part of ]y[e^o- 
potamia lie ? 

What name does it bear ? 

W^hat number of inhabitants in Orfa ? 

What great curiosity is found north-east of this 
city ? 

Describe these caves. 

What place known in the time of Abraham ft 
here ? 

What country lies south of Orfa ? , . 

Mention what there is remarkable that flisytia- 
guishes Babylonia, 

What is said of Babylon, its size, its gates, the 
extent of its walls, their thickness and height ? 

What distinguished conqueror died here ? 

Where is this great and proud city now ? 

Where is Bagdat situated? 

Into what does the desert here pass ? 

What is said of this immense meadow, its soil 
and beauty ? 

What springs are found here ? ( 

To what uses were the naptha and bitumen for- 
merly applied? 

Into what river do they flow, and what effect is 
produced when set on fire ? 

How many inhabitants in Bagdat ? 

I^ow manv Turks ? 



G 



Of what materials is the present town of Hel- 
reh built ? 

Where is it situated? 

What rivers are to be seen within six miles 
of it ? 

What remarkable country lies alongside of 
Mesopotamia ? 

Is it expected that the scattered tribes of Israel 
will ere long be here collected ? 

Ht)w long since their dispersion ? 



SECTiON VII I, 



THE FLOQD. 



No event ever took place since the worlB 
began, so remarkable in the history of geography 
as THE FLOOD. This catastrophe, universal in its 
effects, destroyed the first world made for man in 
innocence, and was the beginning of that second 
'World which has ever since remained, without ma- 
terial alteration, a fit dwelling-place for man, as a 
sinner, in a state of discipline. Till the flood, the 
earth remained essentially the same as it came 
originally from the hands of its Maker. Hence 
the great length of human life, and the immense 
population of the earth previous to this event. 
Immediately after the flood, the age of man was 
shortened one half, and subsequently, in David's 
time, to 70 years. A change from 969 years, to 
70 in the age of man, must have had an adequate 
cause. Dr. Burnet and others, suppose it to have 
been occasioned chiefly by " a change in the 
temperament of the world ; that the equality of 
the seasons, and evenness of weather, in the first 
earth," conduced to the bealth and long life 
xjf the antediluvians ; and " that in the vast con- 
trariety of the seasons and weather" in the se- 
cond earth, we may find the grand operative cause 
of the comparative shortness of human life in (he 
new world, ever since its commencement,* 

' 9?% ]3iTrmp4-. 



7p ANCiivNT GEOGilAi-Ht;, 

The oinse was denounced on the earth by i??^ 
Creator, immediately after the fall of man, It?^ 
fulj execution seems to have been delayed till 
ihi floo^. Till this event, according to th<'. 
hesi and most philosophical notions we can form 
of the state of the old world, its inhabitants en- 
jpyed a constant serenity and equality of the 
heavens, on an earth so situated in regard to the 
^.un, as to have a perpetual equinox, and a uni- 
form temperature of the seasons,* well adapted 
t9 promote their health and prolong* their lives. 

The population of the first world, considering" 
the long live« of its inhabitants, and its adapted- 
ness, as to its soil and climate, to support vastly 
more people than could live in the new world, in 
which it has existed from its beginning has been 
generally believed to have been far greater than 
at any period since. Several authors, who have 
made their calculations, have estimated the in- 
habitants of the fir&t earth, extravagantly indeed, 
^t two millions of millions of souls ;t more than two 
thousand times as many as have existed at any 
period on the new earth ! ! 

The flood was doubtless a miraculous event; 
it is vain therefore to attempt to account for it on 
any known and settled philosophical principles. 
Those who have made the attempt have all dif- 
fered in their theories. The simple account of it 
which Moses has given, is easily understood, and 
the only one to be relied on. 

The inhabitants of the earth during the j)eriod 
of 1656 years, favored as they were with every 
r.oneeivable inducement to love and obey their 

* Shuckford's Connexion, Vol. I. p. oL 
t StTud<ford., Vol I. p, 50, 



THE UJjUD. 'i t 

Maker, yet, under all their advantages, g'rew so 
grossly and universally wicked, that Pie deter- 
mined to destroy the whole race, one family ex- 
cepted, by a universal and tremendous flood. 
Among the many millions who then lived, Noah 
only, a just and upright man, found favor with 
God, To him He revealed his intention thus to 
destroy the whole race of men then on the earthy 
with the exception mentioned. This most alarm- 
ing communication, made to Noah 120 years beforr; 
the flood came, in order to give him time to warn 
his fellow-beings of their danger, and to prepare 
the ark, which he was directed to build for i\Lii 
preservation of himself, his family, and the v<i- 
rious inferior creatures necessary to begin a new 
world. Noah, accordingly, under the divine di- 
rection, constructed an ark '^ about 600 feet long. ' 
100 feet wide, 60 feet deep, and three stories 
high," into which he gathered such a number ot 
(he inferior creatures in their several kinds, as 
'God appointed him, with the necesj^ary provisions 
for them and his family. All things being thus 
prepared, Noah, in the six hundredth year of his 
life, about the beginning of our Nov. A. M. \(jbijf 
entered into the ark with his wife, his three sons, 
and their wives, eight persons in all- '^ The sanw 
day were all the fountains of the great deep 
broken up, and the windows of heaven werf* 
opened. And the rain was upon the earth -^JT) 
days and 40 nights. And the waters prevailed 
exceedingly ; and all the high hills that were 
under the whole heaven, and the mountains al^o 
were covered. And every living substance that 
was on the face of the whole earth w as destroyed \ 

^ Shuckford, Vol. I. p. 41. 
G 2 



78 AI^'crENT GEaORAPilV. 

Noah only remained alive, and they that were 
with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed 
upon the earth 150 days.''* This is all the his^ 
fory which Mos'es has given us of the antediluvian 
world. 

Questioiis on Section VIII. 

What event is the most remarkable in the biBv 
tdry of geography ? 

What world did the flood destroy ? 

What world succeeded the first? 

For whom was the first world made ? 

For whom the second? 

Did the inhabitants of the first world live 
long'er than those of the second? 

What was the cause of this? 

How much did the age of man decrease imme-» 
diately after the flood ? 

How much more from thence to the time of 
David ? 

What cause does Dr. Burnet rissign for this 
shontening of human life ? 

Was the curse denounced by God, after the. 
fall* immediately executed ? 

By what event was it fully executed ? 

Till this event, what did the inhabitants of 
the earth enjoy ? 

Was the population of the first world much 
greater than that of the second ? 

What causes are assigned for this difference ? 

What was the supposed number of inhabitants 
of the first wdrld ? 

* Gen. vii.. 



^J'HE FLOdD. Vj^ 

Is this probably an extravagant calculation ? 

What proportion does this bear to the pre>c 
ent population of the earth ? 

Was the flood a miraculous event? 

Can it be accounted for on any known phi- 
losophical principles? 

What has happened to all those who have at- 
tempted thus to account for it ? 

Is the simple account of the flood which Mose;^ 
has given us, the most to be relied on ? 

Were the antediluvians peculiarly favored of 
God? 

Yet what was their character ? 

In consequence of their gross wickedness, what 
did God determine to do with them ? 

To whom did God communicate this deter- 
mination ? 

Was Noah alone among the millions then on 
the earth, found just and uppight ? 

Hovv long before the flood came, was warniiig 
given by God to Noah ? 

For what purposes did He give so long warning ? 

How long was the ark? — How wide? — How 
deep ? — -How many stories high ? 

When it was finished, what did Noah gather 
into it ? 

When all was ready, who did Noah take into 
the ark with him, and how many in all ? 

How old was Noah when he entered into the 
ark? 

What year of the world did this take place ? 

In what month ? 

What took place in the earth the same day 
that Noah entered the ark? 

How long did it rain on the earth ? 

Were the hisrh hills and mountains all ro/ered ? 



80 ANCIENT GEOGRAPHV. 

Did all living beings perish except those in 
the ark? 

How long did the waters prevail on the 
earth ? 

Is this all the history which Moses has given 
lis of the antediluvian world ? 



SKCTION IX. 



THE FLOOD ITS EFFECTS LAND OF SHINAR BABLh 

CONFOUNDIXG OF LANGUAGE DISPERSION OF 

MANKIND^ — THEIR EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 
/ 

The ark, containing the only remaining means 
of re-peopling the new world, alter being tossed 
by conflicting currents for 150 days, rested on 
Mount Ararat, supposed to be one of the highest 
peaks of the Gordiaean mountains on the southern 
borders of Armenia. How long the inhabitants of 
the ark remained on these mountains before they 
descended to the rich and beautiful plains on 
which they originally dwelt, which for a long 
time, probably, remained unfit for cultivation, we 
are not informed.* About 100 years after the 
flood, however, we find the offspring of Noah's 
family, a great multitude, engaged in building 
the famous tower of Babel. And here I leave 
them to give a short account of the eff*ects of the 
flood on the earth. 

A description of the earth as it came from 
the hands of its Creator, and as it remained till the 
flood, has been given. What has been its state 

^ Noah entered the arkin the six hundredth year of his ao;e, 
second aionth, and seventeenth day of the month ; and in 
the six hundred and first year of his age, and the first month, 
and first dviy of the month, *' the waters were dried from 
ofl' the earth." So that Noah remained in the ark abo;it 
285dfjvs.. 



82 ANCIENT GEOGRAPJiy. 

and condition since, can be more precisely deter- 
mined. All we know of the former, is from the 
very brief history left us by Moses. Of the lat- 
ter, we are eye-witnesses, and can search and 
judge for ourselves. Men of science have ex- 
amined the surface, and the bowels of the earth 
to a very considerable extent ; their united con- 
clusion, expressed by one of the latest of the^e 
writers, is this. '^ The structure of the globe, 
of which we have been endeavouring to trace 
the grand features, presents, in all its parts, the 
appearance of a vast ruin."* The facts on which 
this result is founded are, '^the confusion and 
overthrow of the earth's strata^ the irregular 
succession of those which seem to remain in 
their original situations, the wonderful variety 
which the direction of the veins and the forms 
of the caverns display, the immense heaps of 
C43nfused and broken substances," and of sea 
shells in the interior of countries, and on the 
tops of the highest mountains, " the transporta- 
tion of enormous blocks to a great distance from 
the mountains of which they appear to have 
formed a part, every thing, in short"* on the face, 
and in the bowels of the earth, bears witness to 
the truth of the Mosaic account of the flood, 
and of its universal and awful effects upon the 
earth. It has made it in truth a new world. 
This new world ever since, has remained with- 
out any great and remarkable change, and will 
probably so remain, with increased improve- 
ment in its cultivation, till its final destruction. 

The land of Shinar is that beautiful valley, , 
through which the rapid Tigris rushes fram the • 

M. Bnin- 



THE FLOOD. tio 

mountains of Armenia to' the sea/'* It included 
the same district of country which has since been 
called Babylonia. In the northern part of this 
valley, at the foot of Mount Ararat, Noah and 
his sons probably formed their first settlement 
after the flood, and here the venerable patriarch 
is supposed to have spent the remainder of his 
days, and to have restored and established the 
worship of Jehovah, and for 350 years, till his 
death, to have fulfilled the duties of his patriarch- 
al office over the virtuous part of his descend- 
ants. We have no account that he had any con- 
cern in building the city and tower of Babel. 
The unbeliving part only,Jof Noah's family, werv^ 
engaged in this presumptuous and daring under- 
taking, and the confounding of their language 
was the consequence. While the language of 
Noah and those settled with him, which is sup- 
posed to have been the Hebrew^ remained un- 
changed. 

Of this miraculous event some account has al- 
ready been given.! We here give that furnish- 
ed by Moses. " These were the sons of Noah after 
their families, after their tongues, in their lands, 
after their nations ; and by these were the na- 
tions divided in the earth after the flood." 
The people of Shinar, upon the confounding of 
iheir language, found it necessary to separate, 
and for this purpose they divided themselves into 
little bands or tribes under their leading men, 
each band having its own language, and its chief. 
Their dispersion was doubtless a progressive work, 
a^ the inhabitants of the earth, at this early period 
after the flood, could not have been very numerous. 

^ P^ton. ^ p. ^3. Note, which ?c^> 



S4 ANCIENT tiEOGRABHV, 

Writers en this subject have fixed on the sev- 
eral countries, which were settled by the three 
&ons of JN'oah, Shem, Ham, and Japhet. Japhet* 
though usually last mentioned, was the eldest of 
his brothers, and is supposed not to have been 
present at the confusion of Babel, and to have 
lived and died where his father dwelt during 
his life, after the flood. His descendants, Gomer, 
Tubal, Togarmah, Magog, and Mesech, each 
the head of a subsequent nation, settled in and 
near the northern parts of Syria, about Aleppo, 
which anciently was called Magog. These were 
'• the kings of the north," mentioned in scrip- 
ture, who were to " afflict the Israelites." Other 
chiefs descended from Japhet, as Askanez^ who 
settled in Armenia, near Ararat ; Tarshish in Ci~ 
licia ; Kiitim in Macedonia ; Maclac in Media : 
Tiras in Thrace ; Riphath near Paphlagonia ; Do- 
damon^ uncertain. 

The sons of Shem were Elavi^ the father of the 
Persians, Aslmr^ of the Assyrians, v/ho built the 
cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen ; 
Arphaxed who dwelt at Ur of the Chaldees, nenr to 
Shinar and Assyria, whose descendants peopled In- 
dia and Ophir, whence Solomon obtai'^ ed gold; Lud 
the father of the Lydians in the Lesser Asia, and 
Aram^ from whom descended the Syrians. 

The sons of Ham were four; Cush^ who set- 
tled on the river Gihon at the head of the Per- 
sian Gulf; Misraim^ king of Egypt, from whom 
descended the Egyptians, Lybians, and Philistines. 
Phut^ who is supposed to have settled in the land 
of Havilah, and to have been the father of the 
Arabians ; and Canaan^ father of the Canaanites. 
This the substance of what is offered bv the b.est 



THE KLOOD. Ij^ 

iKi-iters concerning the first settlements made by 
the descendants of Noah after the flood. 

Abram, at the age of 75 years, by divine di- 
rection left Haran, " the country of his kindred 
and of his father's house," and removed to Canaan, 
having this remarkable promise made to him b}' 
the Lord himself, ^^ I will make of thee a great 
nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name 
great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will 
bless them that bless thee, and curse him that 
curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of 
the earth be blessed.'"^ 

From the call of Abram to the opening of the 
Christian era, 4000 years after the creation, the 
history of the world is principally comprised in 
the history of the Hebrew nation, and is contained 
m the Old Testament scriptures. Much of the 
history of the other nations of the earth, co-exist- 
ing with the Hebrew, is blended with their his- 
topy.t 

I close the first Grand Division of this little 
work, Ancient Geography^ with a brief account of 
the four Ancient Empires^ which successively exist- 
ed from the flood to the beginning of the Chris- 
tian era, each embracing, during their existence, 
the greater part of the inhabited world. 

1. The Babylonian^ or Assyrian Empire^ in Asia. 
Nimrod was the founder of this empire, 101 years 
after the flood. He governed it 148 years, dur- 
ing his life, and was succeeded by Belus, a man of 
«tudy and science, the inventor of the Chaldean 
Astronomy, who reigned 60 years, and died, A. M. 
1965, In the mean time the Assyrian Empire 
had commenced under Ashur, a descendant of 

^Oen. xii. •• Plinv, 

H 



Shenu and was continued under his successor 
Ninus, who, by conquest, added the Babylonian 
to his own empire. This empire continued 1300 
yecirs, till the death of Sardanapalus, and was then 
terminated by Cyrus, who established 

2. The Empire of the Medes and Persians^ 438 
years before the birth of Christ. This empire, at 
the end of 108 years from its beginning, was 
overturned by Alexander the Great, king of Ma- 
cedonia, who founded 

3. The Empire of the Greeks and Macedonians^ 
B. C* 330. After the death of Alexander, the 
countries which he conquered were shared 
among his generals. Their respective kingdoms^ 
at their deaths, successively fell under 

4. The Roman Empire^ which at this time com- 
prehended almost the whole of the then ki own 
world, and at the opening of the Christian era^ 
was in the meridian of its strength and glory 

Qucsiions on Settiou IX, 

How long was the ark on the water before it 
rested on Mount Ararat ? 

Of what chain of mountains is Ararat the high- 
est peak ? 

How many days did Noah continue in the ark ? 

How long after the flood did Noah's offspring 
begin to build the tower of Babel ? 



* B. C. Before Christ. 

t Those who "wish to enter more deeply into the hist<yry 
of this period of the world, may consult Shuckford*9 and 
Prideaux's Connexions, Paxton's Illtrstrations, and Rollin's 
Ancient History. 



THE F'LOOD^ 87 

Have meu of science examined the surface and 
bowels of the earth since the flood ? 

What is their conclusion ? 

What are the facts on which this reisult is 
founded ? 

Do these facts bear witness to the truth of thf^ 
Mosaic account of the flood ? 

What has the flood made of the earth ? 

Has this New World remained without any re- 
markable change since the flood ? 

Will it probably so remain till it shall be de^ 
stroyed ? 

Describe the land of Shinar. 

Is Babylonia included in this country? 

In what part of this valley did Noah and his 
sons probably settle ? 

How long did Noah live after the flood, and 
%vhere did he live ? 

What office did he sustain ? 
Had he any concern in the building of Babel? 

What part of Noah's family engaged in this \m^ 
dertaking ? 

What was the consequence to them ? 

Was this a miraculous event ? 

What language did Noah speak ? 

What account of it has Moses given ? 

What did these builders do after this confound- 
ing of their language ? 

Was their dispersion a progressive work ? 

Is it known in what countries the three sons of 
Noah settled ? 

Name these sons. 

Which was the eldest ? 

The next ? 

The youngest? 

Was Japhet present at fhe confitsion of Babel? 



<*8 ANTCIEKT GEOArRi^FlBV, 

Where did he live and die ? 

Name his descendants. 

Were these so many kings ? 

Where did they settle ? 

What was Aleppo anciently called ? 

How do the scriptures speak of these kings ? 

What were they to do ? 

Plad Japhet other cliildren ? 

Name them and where they settled. 

Name the sons of Shem, and the parts of the 
w^orld peopled by them. 

Who was the father of the Persians ? 

Of the Assyrians ? 

Where did Arphaxed dwell ? 

What parts of the world were peopled by Bi$ 
descendants ? 

Who was the father of the Lj'diajis? 

Who of the Syrians ? 

How many sons had Ham ? 

Name them and the places where tkey settled, 
and point to the places on the map. 

How old was Abram when he was called, and 
left Haran ? 

To what place did he remove by divine direc- 
tion ? 

What remarkable promise did God make him? 

In the history of what people, is that of the 
world principally comprised, from the call of 
Abram till the coming of Christ ? 

W^here is this history to be fomid? 

Is much of the history of other nations than of 
the Hebrews, found in these scriptures ? 

How many empires were there in the world^ 
from the flood to the coming of Cbri'pt ? 

IVcime them. 



THE FXOOD. 8"9 

Who was the founder of the Babylonian Empire, 
and^when and where was it established ? 

What other empire was shortly after founded by 
Ashur ? 

Under what conqueror were these two empires 
united ? 

How long did this combined empire last ? 

Who overthrew it ? 

What empire did Cyrus establish, and how lon^ 
Jbefore the birth of Christ ? 

What was the period of this empire ? 

Who overturned it ? 

What empire did Alexander establish for him- 
self, and when ? 

What happened to this empire after the death 
of Alexander ? 

When his generals who became kings died, wha.t 
became of their respective kingdoms ? 

What did the Roman Empire at this time com- 
prehend ? 

What was the state of this empire at the open- 
ing of the Christian era ? 



1.1 e 



MODERN GEOGRAPHY, 



SECTION I. 

The fall of iJie Roman Empire — The dispersiori^ 

state, and prospects of the Jews. — The character^ 

-- mtroduction, and effects of Christianity. — The 

rise, character^ and fnal overthrow of Popery 

and Mahometa?iisni. 

When Jesus Christ came updn earth, the Ro- 
man Empire, as was observed in the last section, 
was at the height of its power, extent, and 
vscientific improvements. The world was at peace. 
The temple of Janus was shut.* In this im- 
portant particular there was a remarkable pre- 
paration for the establishment and spread of the 
new religion, which was now to be introduced. 
Soon, however, the extent and power of this vast 
empire began to diminish, and was finally ever- 

* Janus was the first Ifing of Italy. After his death he 
was ranked amoDg the gods, because he had exerted his 
power and influence in civilizing his rude subjects. The 
temple built to his honor after his death, was always open 
in time of war; in peace it was shut. Durfng a period of 
TOO years, it was shut b\it fhtee tinresi 



IHE iKVVS. !U 

turned by the Saracens,*^ the disciples of Mahom- 
et, from the east, and afterwards by the Turks, and 
by the Goths, Vandals, and other barbarous im- 
tions from the north. These events happened in 
the fourth and fifth centuries. The descendants 
of these conquerors have ever since possessed the 
different kingdoms into which the Roman Empire 
was divided. The nations now became so numer- 
ous and powerful, that no universal empire has 
^ver since existed. There never were but the 
four we have mentioned. There will be no other 
till the Prince of Peace shall establish his empire 
over all nations, '' from the rising to the settin,g 
^n," an event confidently expected by all trui* 
Christians. 

When Christ the Messiah came, the Jews, with 
few exceptions, rejected him ; the sceptre depart- 
ed from Judah ; their city and temple were aw- 
iklly destroyed, and from this time they have been 
Scattered, despised, persecuted, and enslaved, 
among most* of the principal nations of the world, 
remaining to this day a distinct and peculiar peo- 
ple, cherishing a well grounded hope of being one 
day gathered again to the land of their fathers;, 
and raised to the distinguished rank they formerh^ 
sustained among the nations of the world. 

When our Savior first published his relrgim, 
the whole world was overspread with error and 
corruption in the Jewish nation, who had long 
been the depositary of the true religicMi, and with 
gross idolatry and superstition, among all the other 
nations on the earth. The light of truth was scarcely 
any where visible. Thick darkness had overspread 

* Saracens was a ge&eral name given to all the tribes 
who inhabited ihe co^mtry betwe'en ]Vtfec?ca and (^ Ku* 
phrate?. 



92 MODERN GE06RAPHV. 

all the people. The gospel, is the light of the 
world. It was preached " to every creature,^' in 
obedience to the command of God within the first 
century after its publication. In this way the 
light from heaven was made every where to shine 
with healing in its beams ; elevating mankind 
from their deep degradation and misery, cheering 
'them with the hope of happiness in this life, and 
of everlasting rest in heaven, and plainly pointing 
out to them the path to the possession of these 
invaluable blessings. It formed a new world^ so 
great were the changes it effected. 

This happy state of the world was not of long 
duration. Soon errors and corruptions were in- 
troduced into the Christian religion, which of 
course, gradually diminished its good influence on 
mankind. These errors and corruptions, under 
the general name of Antichrists^ (meaning an en- 
emy of Christ,) at length became identified with 
the Church of Rome. The head of this Church 
is the Pope. His power or reign, predicted by 
the prophet Daniel to last 1260 years, is sup- 
posed to have commenced about the year 606, 
when Pope Boniface III. by flattering Phocas the . 
Emperor of Constantinople, one of the worst of 
tyrants, procured for himself the title of Uni- 
versc\l Bishop. From this time Popery has shed 
a most baleful, persecuting, and cruel influence 
over the Christian world. It received a pow- 
erful check by the Reformation^ in the 15th cen- 
tury, and has since been continually lessening, and 
at the end of 1260 years from its rise, is expected 
entirely to cease, and to give place to His domin- 
ion, '' whose right it is to reign^ 

Mahometanism^ another great error of extensive 
inflfnence, co-oprrative with Popery for the snb- 



mah OMKi Au\ is >r; 9:\ 

v^rsiQQ of the pure religion of the gospel, was 
framed and propagated by Mahomet, who was 
born in Arabia and flourished from the year 600 
to 622 after Christ. 

The book which contains their religion is call- 
ed the Alcoran,^ and is the same to a Mahometan, as 
the Bible is to a Christian. 

They believe th-at Jesus Christ was the true 
Messiah, but that Mahomet was a greater prophet 
than him, and improved his religion. They divide 
fheir religion into two general branches : 

1. Faith^ which summarily is, that there is but 
one God^ and Mahomet is his prophet. Under this 
general head they comprise the six following par- 
ticulars — Belief in God — in his Angels — in hi^ scrip- 
tures — in Ins prophets — in tJie resurrection and judg- 
ment^ and in God^s absolute decrees. 

2. Practice.^ in regard to what they reckon four 
points — Prayer.^ with washings — alms—fastings — 
and pilgrimage to Mecca. 

The Mahometans, as well as Christians, are di- 
vided into a great variety of sects, under different 
names. 

Mahomet propagated his religion, not by force 
of evidence only, but chiefly by force of anns^ and 
various subtle artifices, very different from the 
manner in which Christ propagated his reHgion. 
By these means it spread with astonishing rapidity 
over Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and Persia, and Ma- 
homet became the most powerful monarch of his 
lime. His successors spread his religion and con- 
quests over the greatest part of Asia, Africa, and 
Europe ; and they still give law to a considerable 
part of mankind ; but their power, like that of 
tfte Popej is destined at s,e'me future period \p 



'M MODERN GEO'CiRAl^HV. 

come to an encL It seems alread}^ tottering to 
fcill., to ri^e no more. 

Q^uesiioiis an Settwn L 

When Christ came upon earth, what was the 
state of the Roman Empire — of the world — of the 
temple of Janus? 

Who was Janus ? 

What was his character ? 

What was the custom concerning his temple ? 

How often was it shut in 700 years ? 

Was the world at the coming of Christ prepared 
to propagate his religion ? 

Why ? 

What happened to the Roman Empire soon 
after the coming of Christ ? 

Who assailed it from the east ? 

Who from the north ? 

Who were the Saracens? 

In what centuries did these changes in the Ro- 
man Empire take place ? 

Who possessed the different kingdoms into 
which the Roman Empire was divided ? 

Has there been any Universal Empire in the 
world since that of the Romans ? 

Assign the reason given. 

What Universal Empire is expected to exist 
hereafter? 

How did the Jews treat their Messiah ? 

What were the consequences of this rejection 
to the Jewish nation ? 

What is their hope as to their future state ? 

What was the state of the world when Christ 
first published his religion ? 

What is said of the gospel ? 



MAHOMETAMSM. i*5 

How extensively was it preached in the first 
century ? 

What were its eftects on mankind in respect io 
this and a iuture world ? 

What did these great changes produce ? 

Was this happy state of the world of long du- 
ration ? 

What were introduced which diminished the 
good influence of religion on mankind ? 

What were these errors and corruptions called ? 

What is Antichrist? 

With what church is he identified ? 

Who is the head of this church ? 

How long is his reign to last ? 

Where do we learn this ? 

AVhen did his reign begin? 

What important events took place at this time ? 
^^ What has been the character and influence of 
Popery ? 

What great event happened in the century 
which checked this influence ? 

Has it since been continually lessening? 

When is it entirely to cease ? 

Whose dominion will then take place of that of 
the Pope ? 

What other erroneous religion originated with 
that of Popery, and has conspired with it for the 
subversion of the gospel ? 

Who was the framer of this religion ? 

Where was he born, and when did he flourish ? 

What is their bible called ? 

What do they believe concerning Christ ? 

What concerning Mahomet ? 

Into how many branches do they divide their 
religion ? 

What is the 6rst ? 



HjS MODERN CEOaSAPJlV. 

Under this division what do they comprise '{ 

The second ? 

How many and what are their points of prac* 
t Tc^ ? 

Are there many sects among Mahometans ? 

How did Mahomet propagate his religion ? 

How extensively did he propagate it? 

What is said of his power ? 

What did his successors do ? 

What is said of the present state an-d pro^p^cts 
of the Mabo ntef an power ? 



SECTION 0; 



IHE WORLD IN GENERAI;. 



Of Man,- — The varieties in the human race. — Umh* 
habited parts of the world. — Its population^ and 
that of its principal divisions, — Proportion of 
deaths according to age, — Average length of 
human life, — Number of births and deaths an- 
nually in Russia, — Proportion of births and. 
deaths in a generation. — Amount of births and 
deaths on the whole globe in a, year, day, hour^ 
minute, — Increase of mankind,^ if there were no 
wars nor pestilences, and of their s^ipport by 
existing and future improvements. — The propo)'- 
tions of the sexes that are born. 

The magnitude, Gomponent parts, and grand di- 
visions of the earth, have already been given in 
the third section under the head of Ancient Geo- 
graphy, n^hich should be reviewed by ihe pupil 
before entering on this.* 

Of Man. — The world was made for man. The 
whole human race are descendants from Adam 
•' and Eve." God hath made of one blood, all na- 
tions of men, for to dwell on the face of all tire 

^•' A considerable part of the information contained iu 
this and some following sections has been derived from the 
late geography of M. Brun, who is probably the best au- 
thority estant on some of the subjects which vuW here be 
brought up to view. 

I 



earth.*'* The celebrated Blumenbach reduces aif 
mankind io five principal varieties, 

1. The first variety occupies Western Asia, 
Eastern and Northern Africa, Hindostan, and 
Europe. This variety is distinguished among" 
other marks, by the color of the skin, more or 
less white or brown. 

2. The second variety is the Tartar^ or East- 
rrn Race^ of yellow color^ with other distinctions. 
All the Asiatics east of the Ganges, (except the 
Malays,) the Laplanders in Europe, and the Es- 
quimaux Indians in America, constitute this 
variety. 

3. The American is the iJdrd variety, of copper 
color, comprehending all the aborigines of the 
western continent and islands, except the Es- 
quimaux. 

4. The inhabitants of the ''Oceanic countries," 
or the Malay race^ of a tawny color, are the fourih 
variety, comprehending the islanders of the Pacific 
Ocean, New-Holland, and of the Indian Ocean, in- 
cluding Madagascar. 

5. The fifth is the Negro variety^ color black, 
inhabiting southern and western Africa, Van 
Dieman's Land, New Caledonia, and New Guinea. 

Such are the principal varieties of the human 
species, spread over the habitable parts of the 
globe. 

So far as discoveries have yet been m^'le, the 
only portions of the earth destitute of human 
inhabitants are, the islands of Spitzbergcn, and 
Nova Zembla in the north ; the Sandwich Land, 
and island, the most southerly land discovered in 



roPULAXIUX OF l^HE WORLD., 9» 

the Southern Ocean, and the islands of Falkland 
and Kerg-neien in that neighbourhood. 

Population of the world, — It has been common 
to estimate fhe inhabitants of the earth at a 
thousand inillions^ of whom Asia contained one 
half. This estimate is supposed to be much too 
high. M. Brun gives the following as the result 
of his own investigations on the subject, and is 
probably as near the truth as any estimate which 
has yet been made. In great part, however, it. 
must of necessity be conjectural. 

Asia - - - - 310 millions, 

Europe - - - - 170 do. 

Africa - - - - 70 do. 

America - - - - 50 do. 

Inlands of the Oceans - 20 do. 



Total 650 millions. 



Proportion of deaths according fo age, — The 
common limit of human life is 70 years. Few 
live beyond 90. ^ Of all infants born, one out of 
four dies the tirst year. Two-fifths only attain 
their sixth year. And before the 22d year, one 
half of the generation is consigned to the grave. 
The average length of the human life is about 33 
years. Three generations pass off the stage of 
life every hundred years. In the Russian empire, 
the number of hirths annually, is a million ; that 
of deaths, from 5 to 600,000. 

Proportion of births and deaths in a generation. — • 
Supposing the whole number of the human race 
to be 700,000,000, and that the ratio of deaths to 
the living population to be as 1 to 33, and that of 
the births to the living, as 1 to 29^, we shall have 
lor the whole globe, 



10.0 M.UDERN GEOdRAPHV. 

Births, Deaths, 

111 one year, 23,728,813 21,212,121 

day, 65,010 58,120 

-hour, 2,708 2,421 

minute, 45 40 

The result is, that if there were no wars nor 
pestilences, there would be an annual increase of 
more than 2,500,000 individuals, which in a 100 
years, (were this annual increase no greater, and it 
would doubtless be greater,) would increase the 
inhabitants on the globe from 700 to 1,000,000,000, 
and in an increased ratio for every century to 
come. Yv^ith the improvements already made, 
and which probably will be made in future cen- 
turies, the earth maybe made to maintain as great 
a population as this would produce. 

Proportio7i of the two sexes. In Europe the 
proportion of boys born, is to that of girls, as 21 
to 20. On the other hand, in consequence of the 
greater exposure of the males beyond that of the 
females, the number of deaths of the former to 
that of the latter, is as 27 to 26 ; still there is a 
small surplus in favor of the males. In other parts 
of the world, owing to various causes, the propor- 
tion of the sexes is different. 

Questions on Section II. 

For whom was the world made ? 

Are all mankind made of one blood ? 

Repeat what the apostle testifies on thi^ sub- 
ject. 

Into how many varieties is the human race 
divided? 

What parts of the world do the first variety or- 
rnpy ? 



THE WORLD IN GENERAt. 



vol 



What is the color of their skins ? 

What race constitute the second variety ? 

Where do they live ? 

What is their coior? 

Which is the third variety ? 

What is their color? 

W^ho are comprehended in this variety ? 

Who are included in the fourth variety ? 

Wliat is their color ? 

What part of the world do they occupy ? 

What is the fifth variety called? 

Wliat is their color? 

Where is their place of abode ? 

W^hat parts of the earth remain w^ithout hunran 
inhabitants ? 

What has been the common estimate of ih(t 
number of inhabitants on the gflobe ? 

What is M. Brun's estimate. 

How many in Asia ? — in Europe ? — in Africii? - 
in America? — in the Isleinds of the Oceans? 

What is the common limit of human life ? 

How many live beyond 90? 

How many of the infants that are born, die in 
their first year? 

What proportion attain their 6th year ? 

What part of a g"cneration die under the age 
of 22 years ? 

What is the average length of human life ? 

How many generations die every 100 years ? 

W^hat is the annual number o^ births in Rus- 
sia ?_of deaths ? 

WHiat is tlie ratio of deaths to the whole popu- 
lation of the world ? 

What that of the births to the living? 

On this calculation, what is the number of bir.ths 
:n a year? — a day ? — -,)n hour -—a minute? 



102 ]\tODERN GEOGRAPHY. 

What number of deaths in a year ? — a day ? — ^an 
hour ? — a minute ? 

If there were no wars nor pestilences, wha,t 
would be the annual increase of inhabitants in the 
world ? 

At this rate what v/ould be the number of in- 
habitants at the end of a century from this time ? 

By improvements already made, and which 
probably will be made in future, will the earth 
probably be prepared to support as g^reat a popu- 
fation Tcs this would produce ? 



SECHHON Ik 



POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



Languages, — Forms of Government. — Religion, 

This branch of Geography " considers the earth 
according to its political divisions, and in its rela- 
tions to the different societies which are estab- 
lished upon it." 

Languages of mankind. We have already ob- 
served that till the building of Babel, 100 years 
after the flood, " the whole earth was of one lan- 
guage, and of one speech ;" * and that about 70 
new languages were miraculously formed when 
the Lord confounded the language of the builders 
of Babel and scattered over the face of all the 
earth."* The nimiber of radically different or 
primitive languages now spoken by the inhabitants 
of the earth, and the nations who speak them, have 
not been ascertained ; much less can we enume- 
rate* and define the endless \ ariety of dialects. 
which from various causes have grown out ol 
these primitive languages. The subject is one of 
extreme complexity and difficulty, and the ad- 
vances toward a simple, clear, and distinct classi- 
fication of the different languages and dialects 

*Gen. xivl,7, R-, an'd 9. 



spoken by the different nations of the earth, fitit;^' 
hitherto been slow and small.* 

By means of the increasing commercial anil 
missionary intercourse among the nations, a more 
correct knowledge of their different languages 
will be acquired, and perhaps in the happy period 
of the world which is to come, there may be an 
amalgamation of all languages; there shall be again^ 
as in the years before the flood, '* but one lan- 
guage and one speech in the whole earth." 

Forms of Government. For their common 
security and welfare, the inhabitants of the 
earth have formed themselves into communi- 
tfes, and instituted governments^ varying in their 
forms. The government of no two nations, 
perhaps, fs exactly similar. There are but three 
kind^ of simple forms of government, Monarchy, 
Aristocracy, and Democracy.! All other govern- 
ments must, of course, be a mixture of these. 

The earliest form of government was a species 
of Monarchy^ called Patriarchal government, in 
which the chief magistrate, so far as related to 
government, sustained the authority of a father 
over his people. This form of government is 
said to have existeti in China for a long sueceB?^ion 
of ye>nrs. 

* Noah Webster, LL. D. of thfs citr, Hms spent more than 
20 years of the vigor of his liie. in iiivestiijatin^ this subjort. 
The result? of his laborious rese irches, it ia understood, are 
shortly goin? to the prees in a h^r»c work, a prospectus of 
which is shortly to be published ; and from the long estab- 
liihed literary character of the author, it is expected thiit 
(nuuph new light will be thrown on this complicated subject. 
*rne work is looked for by the public with strong desire. 

t President Adams eti the American Coostitutrons. 



FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 105 

'When the sovereign power is exercised by one 
man, that government is called a Monarchy. The 
chief magistrate in a monarchial government is 
styled variously, — King.^ as in Spain, &c.; Monarchy 
as in Prussia; Sovereign^ as sometimes in Eng- 
land ; Emperor^ as in Germany, Austria, China, and 
Russia. Monarchies are of different kinds, — des- 
potic, absolute or arbitrary, limited or mixed, ac- 
cording to the degree of power vested in the sove- 
reign. The Turkish government is an example 
of the former ; that of Great Britain of the latter. 

An Aristocracy is a government of nobles. Of 
this kind was the government of Venice, till the 
revolution it experienced in 1797. 

Governments formed by a free people, or by 
their proper representatives, and administered by 
officers of their own choice, and where the execu- 
tive power is not vested in an individual, are call- 
ed Republics. Of this kind is our own government, 
and it is perhaps the best in the world. Repub- 
lics are of three kinds ; 

1. Democratic Republics^ where elections are 
free and frequent, and the people enjoy the great- 
est share of freedom. Of this kind is that of sev- 
eral of the Swiss Cantons, and of the United States 
of America. 

2. Aristocratic Republics^ in which the people 
enjoy less liberty ; such were a number of the 
Swiss Cantons, Lucca, Genoa, Venice, &c. 

3. Monarchic Republics^ of which kind may he 
reckoned England and Poland, as the government 
of the latter existed in 1786. 

The fundamental laws of a state or country, 
which secure the rights of its inhabitants, and reg- 
ulate the conduct of its rulers, are called its Con- 
^^rrf'TJTfON 



lU.i> F-OLITICAL GKOlrRAP-fTV. 

Jleligivru By religion is here meant a system 
of divine faith and worship^ as differing from 
other systems ; that is, if I embrace one system of 
divine faith and worship,- and my neighbor a differ- 
ent one, we are of different religions. We use the 
word in this sense when we ask another, What is 
Iiis religion ?* 

Mankind, in respect to religion, as now defined, 
may be divided into 1. Christians^ 2. Jews^ 3. Ma- 
hometans^ 4. Deists^ 5. Pagans^ or Heathens^ and 6, 
Indians. 

Christians. All who profess to be the disciples 
and followers of Jesus Christ, are called after 
him, Christians. The greater part of the inhab- 
itants of Etrrope, and of the American United 
States, together with those in the Spanish and 
Portuguese parts of South America, the West In- 
dia Islands, and some few parts of Asia and Africa, 
•are of this denomiiiation. 

Christians are divided into 1. Roman Catholivs^ 
who have a Pope at their head, and are thence 
Called Papists. These are a numerous sect of 
Christians, inhabiting the southern and interior 
parts of Europe. The Spanish, French, and Por- 
tuguese'settlements, in different parts of the world, 
are mostly of this denomination. 

2. Protestants^] a name given in 1 529 to all who 
renounced the Roman Catholic Religion, and em- 
braced the principles of the Reformation. 

* By the word rdigien, we often, perhaps more g^eneral- 
ly, mean virtue^ pi«(3/> godliness, founded on reverence of 
God, aed expectation of fwture rewards and punishments. 

t In \5i29, the Diet of the German empire issued a decree 
ao;firin9t the priaciplee of the Reformation, which had, since 
Luther broached them in 1617, been spreading; in Germany. 
A*guinst this decree, severcil of the electors, joined by a 



religion: 107 

Protestants are divided into Lutherans and Cal- 
mnisis^ as they embrace the doctrines peculiarr to 
Luther or Calvin, two of the first mid most con* 
spictjous Reformers. 

Lutherans and Calvinists are subdividexl into 
Episcopalians^ Presbyterians^ Congregatioitalists^ 
Independents^ Baptists^ and Methodists ; and these 
are again divided iiflo Moravians, or United 
Brethren, Arminians, Crlvinists, Unitarians, Uni- 
versalists, Mennonists, i' linkers, 4'C. 

Under the head of Protestants may be ranked 
also the Friends, commonly called Quakers^ a re- 
spectable, peaceful, and industrious body of peo- 
ple, dwelling principally in England and the 
United States of America. 

The Greek Churdh is tolerated in Turkey, coun- 
tenanced in Hungary, Sclavonia, and Daimatia, 
and established by law in Russia. Among its 
branches are the Nestorians in Turkey, Tartary, 
Mongolia, and China, and the Monophysites^ com- 
prising the Copts in Egypt, and the Armenians 
and Jacobites in Abyssinia. The Greek Church re- 
sembles in many particulars, the Roman Catholic. 
Its professors, Jike the Catholics, keep Lent ami 
many other days of fasting ; they have numerous 
ceremonies in their worship — have holy waier^ kc. 
The great sanctijication of the waters is perform- 
ed at Petersburgh, twice in the year, in com- 
memoration of the baptism of our Savior, in the 
most splendid and magnilicent manner. They 
differ from the Catholics in that they have never 
acknowledged the Pope. 



number of the citios, read publicly their pRaTEST. Sincf5 
this time, all who have embraced the reformed religioa bt'.ve 
^^^^'^u called pRoxESTANTe. 



log MODERN GEOGUAPHV. 

The Jews, The Jews are the seed of AbrahaiiiS^ 
or the descendants of the chosen people of God, who 
ib .rmerly inhabited Judea, but are now dispersed, 
and have become a proverb^ in fulfilment of scrip- 
ture prophecies, in almost every nation under 
heaven. They adhere to the Old Testament 
scriptures, but reject the New. 

Mahometans. The Mahometans derive their 
name and doctrine from Mahomet. (See page 
93.) 

Deists, Those who assert the sufficiency, uni- 
versality, and absolute perfection of natural reli- 
gio7i^ with a view to discredit and discard all ex- 
traordinary revelation^ as useless and needless, are 
called Deists. 

Deists are no where to be found, but in Chris- 
tian countries ; the reason is, that without the light 
of revelation, which gives consistency and beauty 
to natural religion^ its sufficiency and absolute 
perfection has never yet been admitted by sensi- 
ble men in any age. Deists have been compared 
to the wiseacre^ who thought the sun useless, 
because he shined only when we had the light of 
the day. 

Lord Herbert in the 17th century, was the first 
who reduced Deism to a system. Deists are not 
agreed among themselves. Some acknowledge a 
future state ; others deny it. Others again, who 
form the most numerous class, think it a very 
doubtful question, Whether the soul exists after 
death. 

Of the Pagans or Heathens. Those people who 
represent the Deity under various forms or im- 
ages, or who pay divine worship to the sun, fire, 
beast, or any of the creatures of God, are railed 
Pagans or Hf^tjiens 



llELIGION. 1(49 

The Pagans are more numerous than all other 
sects collected. They inhabit all other parts of* 
the globe, which are not inhabited by Christians^ 
Jews, Deists, and Mahometans. 

They are divided into innumerable sects, mo^t 
of which have different idols or objects to whicji 
they pay divine worship. The worship of ll?.e 
Grand Lama^ is the most extensive and splendid 
mode of Paganism. 

This species of Paganism is professed by a 
large proportion of the people of Asia. 

The Grand Lama is a name given (o the High 
Priest of the Thibetian Tartars.nho resides at Pu- 
toli, a vast palace on a mountain, near the banks 
of the river Barampooter. At the foot of this 
mountain reside 20,000 Lamas^ or priests. His 
worshippers are very numerous, and come from 
far distant countries. Even the emperor of China 
himself acknowledges him in his religious char- 
acter. 

The Grand Lama^ Avho is some ]ie?ilthy peasant 
purchased when young, and privately educated 
for the purpose, is never to be seen but in a 
secret place in his palace, amidst a great number 
of lamps, sitting cross-legged upon a cushion, and 
decked all over with gold and precious stones ,• 
where, at a distance, the people prostrate them- 
selves before him, it being unlawful for any so 
much as to kiss his feet. He returns not the least 
sign of respect, nor ever speaks, even to the 
greatest princes ; but only lays his hand upon 
their heads, and they are fully peijfuaded they 
receive from thence a full forgiveng'ss of all their 
sins. The subordinate Lamas, who wait on him'. 
K 



110 ^lUDERN GLOGiVAl'^U, 

enjoy all tlie good things that are presented to hna^ 
who is himself, the most miserable wretch in the 
empire. When he begins to grow old or sick, 
they privately despatch him, and set up another 
Ih his pUtee. 

Besides the religious sects already mentioned, 
there is an anomalous set of human beings, callea 
Atheists, whose distinguishing characteristic is a 
destitution of all religion. 

Among this diversity of religions, each individ- 
ual must choose for himself, when suiiiciently in- 
formed to make a true judgment. We shall be 
safe in making the Bible our rule ; remembering 
always, that it is necessary to a good man, that he 
love God with all his hearty and his neighbor as 
h'invself. None but such as ''"fear God and zvork. 
righteousness^"'' are accepted of him. 

The Indians of JVorth America constitute anoth- 
er class of religionists, distinct from all others 
They are not idolaters, like the Pagans of the 
east, but believe in one Great Spirit^ who made 
all things, and to whom they olTer worship after 
their own manner. They believe also in a future 
state, of which they have very crude and absurd 
notions. 

The following numbers, belonging to the 
difterent religions, taken in part from M. 
Brun. are probably nearer the ivuth than anv 
which have appeared. 

Cathojics in Europe, 88,000,000, ) 

. out of Europe, 28,000,000, \ ^^^^^^^'^^^^ 

Greek Church, - - . . 70,000,000 
Protestjmts, - - . - 42,000,0011 

Totffl Ghristiatm, 22S.000.00T> 



KEI.IGIOX., 



Ill 



Jev^ifi, - . - ^ - 
Mahometnns, - - - - 
'Braminism, - - - GO 
Schaiuanism, or the reli- 
gion of Deiai Lama, 50 
Pagans, <( Buddismjncluding the re- 
ligion of Fo, - - 100 
Fetichism and othei^, in- 
^ eluding Atheists, 100^ 



Indians, 



5,000,005 
110,000,000 



310.000,000 



1,000,001) 



Total 654,000,000 



•• Languages and religious creeds are the ties 
of moral society^ which often survive the fall of 
civil and political society^ whose province it is to 
determine the boundaries of states and empires, 
which it is the province of political^eography to 
describe.'' * 

Q;U€stio'ns on Section HI. 

How does Political Geography consider the 
earth ? 

Till the building of Babel did all mankind 
speak but one language, or more ? 

How many were spoken after God confounded 
thejlanguage of men ? 

Is it known how many radical or primitive Irti- 
guages there are in the world ? — or how many 
dialects of these languages'? 

Who is about to publish a large work on this 
"^nhject ? ^ 



RTi'ini' 



112 MU.DER-^ GEOGRAPHY . 

Is it probable that all mankind may, at some 
period hereafter, be brought again to speak but 
one language ? 

For what purpose was government instituted ? 

How many simple forms of government are 
there ? 

Are all other governments a mixture of these ? 

What was the earliest form of government in 
the world ? 

Where did this kind of government long exist ? 

Describe a monarchical government, and give 
the various names of the chief magistrate, and the 
countries where these names are given. 

How many kinds of monarchy are there? 

Give an example of each. 

What is an Aristocracy ? — a Republic ? 

How many kinds of republics are there ? 

Define them. 

What are the fundamental laws of a coun try- 
called ? 

What is meant by religion ? 

Give the illustration of this meaning. 

What is the proper meaning of the word e- 
Tigimi ? [See note.] 

How are mankind di%^ided in respect to re- 
ligion? 

Who are Christians ? 

What parts of the world do they inhabit ? 

How are Christians divided ? 

Describe the Catholics^ and name the ce> 
they inhabit. 

Describe the Protestants^ and when and how 
they came by their name. 

How are Protestants divided ? 

What are the subdivisions of F^ntherans and 
Cklvintsfs ? 



RELLGIOiV. ' 113 

Are the Friends or Quakers Protestants ? 

Where do they principally reside ? 

In what countries do Christians of the Greek 
Church reside ? 

In what points do the}^ resemble the Catholics? 

In what do they differ ? 

What branches of this church are mentioned ? 
— their places of residence ? 

Who are the Jews, and where did they former- 
ly live ? 

Where and what are they now ? 

From whom do the Mahometans derive thefr 
name and doctrine ? 

What do Deists believe, and what do they 
discard ? 

Where are they only to be found? 

Give the reason assigned for this. 

To what are they compared ? 

Who reduced Deism to a system, and when ? 

On what points do they differ among them-. 
selves l 

Who are Pagans or Heathens ? 

What is said of their numbers ? 

What parts of the globe do they inhabit ? 

What is said of their divisions ? 

Which is their most extensive worship? 

State what is said of the Grand Lama — the 
place of his residence — the number of Lamas or 
priests who reside at the foot of the mountain — 
the number and character of his visiters. 

State the other particulars mentioned concjenv 
ing this extraordinary heathen Deity. 

Who are Atheists ? 

What is their distinguishing characteristic ? 

Jfre the Indians idolaters ? 
K 2 



114 MODERN GEOORAPKY. 

In whom and what do they believe ? 

Give the numbers of the Catholics in Europe — 
out of Europe — of the Greek Church — of Pro- 
testants — of Jews — of Mahometans — of Pagan? 
of the different descriptions — of the Indians — the 
total number ? 

What are the ties o{ moral society ? 

What is the province of civil nnd politirj^l 
socletT ? 



^ECTIO]\ IV 



VROGKESS FROM THE SAVAGE TO THE CIVIIJZED STA'Jl . 



'^<(vagcs, — Civilized Men. — Xavigaiion^ effccjb 

on the state of the world. 



Savagci;, Mex in the savage state 4iave no 
written language, no history, but very imperfect 
iradition ; no books, no knowledge of the arts of 
reading, writing, ari Imietic, agriculture, mechan- 
ics, or of navigation, or regular commerce. Their 
ideasof their own origin, and of that of the world, 
and^of those beings vvho inhabit it generally, and of 
him who made them all, and of their future des- 
tiny, are very crude, and have in them very little 
of truth. They roam in forests, are sustained by 
simple food, which they there gather, and dwell 
in huts. 

Civilized Men, These arc in a stale tlirectly 
ihe reverse of that of the savages. They have 
written languages, histories, and books on all the 
arts and sciences, and knowledge of the means of 
multiplying and disseminating books to any extent, 
of maintaining intercourse with each other all 
over the world by Avriting ; especially have the^^ 
the Bible^ which contains all the light and truth 
necessaiT to «:uide mankir.d ihrouofh this w^orld tv 



lib MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 

future and endless happiness. The difterence 
therefore between savage and civilized men is 
Immense, and when this difference is considered, 
it should make us feel our obligations to do what 
WE can to extend the blessings of civilization, and 
of the Bible, to all who are now destitute of 
them. 

Navigation. '^ In the history of mankind, th£ 
progress of navigation will always hold the first 
place after that of agriculture. The civilization 
produced by agriculture, is purely local. Itstojis 
as soon as the wants of the nation are supplied.''* 
Those who are engaged in it, feel littie inter- 
est in what is going on in the great w orld. '^ But 
navigation disturbs this 'Chinese happiness, and 
interrupts a repose so opposed to the high desti- 
nies of human nature. A vessel unites the most di;?- 
tant regions of the world ; cities, and even w^bolc 
nations are, in effect, transported to other cli- 
mates ; the tumult and hum of civilization is heard 
among indolent savages, and a universal move- 
ment pervades all classes." ''At first civiliza- 
tion was collected around the Mediterranean sen ; 
it was for ages almost the only ^ea on w^hich there 
was any navigation. At length the mariner's com- 
pass was invented, and Columbus appeared. A 
new world saw our vessels enter on its shores. A 
new Europe has arisen on the American continent, 
and is advancing with giant steps in the career of 
improvement. The Atlantic Ocean has already 
become, what the Mediterranean w^as before, the 
great highway of civilized nations."! The Indian, 
the Pacific, and the Eastern Oceans, extending 
from pole to pole, have already been cro-ssed by 

-: M. Brun., i IbiUv 



\A\iaAiio..\. J IT 

AtueriCri'j n;ivli;'ator?=. '^Alreiidy British coiouists 
are planting the innumerable islands which form 
to the south-east of Asia, a Mth part of the world : 
and Australasia, the most delightful country on 
the globe, will probably, ere many generatioi.s 
pass away, have reached the highest pinnacle of 
civilization. Let colonists fraught with our learn- 
ing found a new Greece in Otaheite, the Sand- 
wich, or Pelew Islands ; then those rising grounds 
which now produce only aromatic herbs, will hc\ 
covered with towns and pahices ; bays now 
shaded by a forest of palms, will display a forest 
of masts ; gold and marble will be extracted from 
the bowels of mountains as yet untouched by the 
miner ; and one day, perhaps, Europe, Asia, and 
Africa, will find successful rivals in countries now 
scarcely known. Thus in the history of the hu- 
man race, the past, the present, and the future, 
are connected Avith the position of the great seas 
of the globo, and with the progress of navi- 
gation,'** 

(Questions on Section IV. 

Describe men in the savage state. 

What are their ideas of their own origin, and 
(»f that of the world ? 

How do ih^y live ? 

Describe civilized en n al the particulars 
mentioned ? 

What should this great difference between sav- 
age and civilized man teach us ? 
■ What place in the history of mankind dor-s 
"J^^vigation hold ? 

^ M. Brim. 



} 1 8 SiODERN OLOGRAPH V. 

What is the civilization produced by AgTicul- 
lure? 

When does it stop ? 

How do people who are engaged in Agricul- 
ture generally feel in regard to what is going 
forward in the great world ? 

What effect does navigation produce on such 
people ? 

What is said of the wonderful effects of a 
vessel ? 

Where was civilization at first collected ? 

Was the Mediterranean for ages almost the 
only sea navigated ? 

What machine was invented, and what distin- 
guished man arose to use it? 

What was the consequence ? 

What has since arisen on the American Con^ 
tinent ? 

What is this " New Europe" doing ? 

What is said of the Atlantic Ocean ? 

What have American navigators done ? 

Where have British colonies been established ? 

What will these colonies in a few ages proba- 
bly become ? 

What is the recommendation given as to Col- 
onists ? 

What would be the consequences should a new 
Greece be thus founded in these islands ? 

State the conrbrsion drawn from the whole. 



J^jEGTION V 



{)h hllOTKi^TANT CHRISTIAN MISSIO?^ TO THK HEATHL.V*. 



Commencement^ Progress^ Success^ Present Stati: 
and Future Prospects of these Missions. 

Commencement. We can look back^ in reftr- 
ence to Protestant missions amonsf the heatheu, 
to the year 1646, when the Rev. John Elliot o{ 
Roxbury, near Boston, commenced his labors 
among the Indians in that vicinity. From that 
period to the year 1795, the efforts to convert 
the heathen were few, scattered, feeble, and of 
small effects. At the extraordinary meeting of 
all denominations of Protestant Christians in Lon- 
don, in the summer of this year, (1795,) a mis- 
sionary spirit was most remarkably kindled, which 
has since been diffused throughout the whole 
,Christian world. The fruits of this spirit have 
been very wonderful, both at home and abroad. 
Among these fruits may be reckoned the estab- 
lishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
and all similar societies since formed in Europe, 
America, and in almost all the other parts of the 
world, together with sabbath schools, domestic 



i 2i) iMODLRN GEOGRAPIIV. 

missions, and tract societies, and all that Chri^tiai) 
zeal, and sjmpathy for the heathen, and for all 
v» ho are ignorant of the gospel, manifested in the 
diversified efforts that are made to support these 
great institutions. Christians, who look on these 
surprising operations, and who at the same time 
view and contemplate the corresponding improve- 
ments in agriculture, in literature, the arts and 
sciences, in navigation, in civil government, all 
co-operatiiig together to the same great end, the 
peace, union, and happiness of mankind ; in view 
of all ihc'^^e things. Christians believe that 
the happy period described in the closing chap- 
ter of this book, is in truth drawing near, and is 
now even at the door. 

The number of missionaries which have been 
sent into heathen countries, from the beginning 
of missions, including all the members of mission 
families, cannot be correctly estimated. From 
some investigation of the subject, we may reckon 
more than 2000 persons now on the ground, occu- 
pying more than 1000 different stations, scattered 
amongst almost all the Pagan nations of the u'orld ; 
beside a large and fast increasing num]>er of na- 
tives, who have been educated for this employ- 
ment, and a great and increasing number oi' Do- 
mestic Missionaries^ whose business it is to build 
up the waste places in Christian countries, and to 
preach the gospel, and plant churches in the ex- 
tensive frontiers of our own country. A view of 
these things can hardly fail to fasten, on serious 
minds, a conviction that a great work, indeed, is 
going on in this most important branch of im- 
proving the moral and religious condition of man- 
kind. It is worthy of notice and commendation, 
that the United Brethren, known by the nam.e of 



CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. itii 

Moravians, a small body of about 1G,000 sonls, 
began their benevolent operations, as far back as 
1732, have since steadily, patiently, and success- 
fully, pursued them in the most forbidding parts 
of the globe. 

(Questions on Section V, 

When did Protestant missions among the hea 
then commence ? 

Who was the first missionary named, and where 
=did he live, and with whom did he labor ? 

From 1646 to 1795, what is said of the efforts 
to convert the heathen? 

What meeting was held in London in 1795 ? 

What took place at this meeting ? 

What is said of the spirit kindled on this oc- 
casion ? 

What have been its happy fruits ? 

Enumerate them. 

What corresponding improvements have been 
made in agriculture, &c. ? 

To what great end have all these improvements 
co-operated together ? 

What do Christians, who look on these sur- 
prising operations, believe ? 

What number of missionaries have been sent 
among the heathen from the beginning of mis- 
sions? 

What number of Protestant missionaries, in- 
ckiding members of the mission families, are sup- 
posed to be nov/ on the ground ? 

Who are to be added to this number in heathen 
nations and in our own nation ? 



How many stations do these Missionaries dcciu 
py, ami where are these stations situated ? 

What truth does a view of these things tend to 
produce on serious minds ? 

What is said of the United Brethren, or BIoTa- 
vians? 

What is the number of these Christians ? 

When did they begin their missions ? 

How and where have they evince pursued their 
benevolent operations ? 



SJECTION \ >, 
Particular Modern Geography- 



We: give only a short summary of this article^, 
M hich is fully treated in our School Abridgment, 
the study of which it is intended, shall succeed 
that of this First Book, 

We have already given an account of the 
great Oceans on the globe, and of the grand divi- 
sions of the Earthy with some general views cf 
their population, the varieties of the human race, 
their languages, different governments and reli- 
«^ions, and added some interesting calculations.* 

The two great continents are divided as fol- 
lows : 

The Ea^tern^ into Asia, Europe, and Africa. 

The Western^ into ISorth America and South 
America. 

The Islands of the great Oceans, are divided 
into Australasia, the Asiatic Isles, Polynesia, 
the African Isles, and the Islands of North and 
South America. 

These divisions, with the great oceans and 
smaller portions of water, embrace the whole 

* See pp. 2T5. 97. 



1 i'4 MOJ)ERN GEOftKAPHV. 

J ace of the globe. For an account oi the divisions 
of water, see p. 29. The divisions o; land are 
now to be considered, and in the order in which 
they are named above. 

ASIA. 

Boundaries and Extent. — Asia is bounded N. 
by the Frozen ocean, E., by the Pacific ocean, S. 
by the Indian ocean, VV. by the Red sea, which 
separates it from Africa, the Mediterranean sea, 
the Archipelago, the Black sea, and straits of 
Caffa ; thence to the Northern ocean, the line 
is unsettled. Its greatest length is 7370 miles ; v 
its breadth 4230, containing 164,000,000 square 
miles. ^ 

Divisio7i3 and Population. — We give here the 
common i visions, observing only that M. Brun 
has divided this country into 19 regions, corres- 
ponding with its natural divisions. 

Population, 

1. TnrkeyinAsia, ----- 12,000,000 

2. Russia in Asia,' 2,700,000 

3. Arabia, 12,000,000 

4. ladepeudentTartary, - - - 4,000,0Q0 

5. Pi-rsia, ----'---- 18,000,0(?a 

6. Cabul and Beloochisian, - 14,000,0Q0 

7. Hindostan. or Hither India, - 101,000,000 

8. Farther India, ----'-- 17,000,000 
0. Chinese Empire, 150,000,000 

10. Japan, - - 25,000,000 

11. Asiatic Islands, 18,000,000 

About 373,000,000 souls in the 10 divisions, or. 

the whole of continental Asia. 

^^ M. Rrnn; 



EUROPE. 

Boundaries and Extent. — Europe is bounded N. 
by the Frozen ocean ; E. by Asia ; S. by the 
Mediterranean sea, which divides it from Africa; 
and W. by the Atlantic ocean. Its greatest lengfli 
is about 4,000 miles ; its breadth 2,400 ; contain- 
ing, according to Hassel, 3,387,000 square miles. 

Divisions ojid Population. — The political, or 
aiational divisions of Europe are, 

Population. 

1. Great Britain, - • - - ^ . 12,600,000 

2. Ireland, - - 4,500,000 

3. Norway, 930,000 

4. Sweden and Lapland, - - - 2,470^000 

5. Denmark, - - 1,565,000 

5. Russia in Europe, - - . - 41,773,000 

7. Poland, *2,800,000 

S. Prussia, 10,000,000 

9. Austria, IncludiJig 5 great races, 28,000,000 

10. Germany, 10,500,000 

11. Switzerland, 1,750^000 

12. Netherlands, 5,285,000 

13. France, 29,300,000 

14. Spain, - - 10,350,000 

15. Portugal, 3,683,000 

16. Italy, including Sicily and ) .^ ^. . ^^^ 

Sardinia, i ' ' 

17. Turkey, 10,000,0^0 

=^ This is all that is le'^t of Poland, once among the wwei- 
ful kingdoii*3 of Europe, the greater part of her former terri- 
tory and pNOpulalion being divided between Pwussia-, Austria', 
and Prussia". 

ft 2 



1 t^ h r.lOl)i:ni'N tiEbuKAl'llV. 

AFRICA. 

Boundaries and E?deiit. — Africa is bounded IS. 
by the Mediterranean sea ; E. and S. E. by the 
Jled sea, and Indian ocean ; S. W. and W. by the 
Ethiopic,* and Atlantic oceans. It contains about 
11,700,000 square miles. 

Divisions and Population. — A great part of the 
interior of Africa, is an unexplored and unknown 
region. The larger and smaller kingdoms, the 
most of them of undefined limits, may be come-- 
niently divided into, 

1 . Northern Africa, 

2. Eastern do. 

3. Southern do. 

4. Western do. 

5. Central do. 

These large divisions are subdivided irao ia, 
great number of smaller ones, the whole contain- 
ing, according to Hassel, 99,000,000 of inhabit* 
jmts; according to M. Brun, only 70,000,0-00. 

AMERICA. 

Di.visiods and Population. — This continent has 
the Pacific ocean on the W. the Frozen ocean N. 
and the Atlantic and Ethiopic oceans E. and is 
divided as follows : 

1. North America. 

2. South America. 

These are separated by the Isthmus of Darien. 

3. American Islands. 

These divisions contain 50,000,000 of inhabit- 
ants. 

* See p. 30. ' 



N.OPvTH AMEKICA. 127 



NORTH AMERICA. 



Divisions and Population. — North America is 
divided into, 

1. British America on the north, 

2. United States in the middle, 

3. Spanish America on the south, 

Russia has a small settlement on the north-west. 

BRITISH AMERICA, 

Population. 

i. Nova Scotia, 100,000 

2. New Brunswick, 60,000 

3. Lower Canada, 300^000 

4. Upper Canada^ 100,000 

5. The Islands of Newfoundland, - - 70,000 

LWITED STATES. 

BGundaries and Extent. — The United States are 
bounded N. by British America ; E. by the Atlan- 
tic ocean ; S. by the (}ulf of Mexico ; S. W. by 
the Spanish dominions ; \V. by the Pacific ocean 
= — coutaining 2,000,000 square miles. 

Divisions and Population. — The United States 
are divided and peopled as follows, 

1. Maine, -' 298,335 

2. New-Hampshire, - - - - 244,161 

3. Vermont, 235,761 

4. Massachusetts, 523,287 

5. Rhode Island, 83,059 

6. Connecticut, 275,24.8 






128 MODERN G.KOoillA^H\- = 



f 7. INew-York, -.---- 1,372,812 

8. New-Jersey, ----- 277,585 

9. Pennsylvania, 1,049,398 

10. Delaware, - 72,749 

111. Maryland, 407,350 

12. Virginia, 1,065,366 

13. North-Carolina, - - - - 638,829 

14. South-Carolina, - - - - 490,309 

15. Georgia, 340,989 

16. Alabama, 127,901 

17. Mississippi, 75,448 

18. Louisiana, 153,407 

f 19. Tennessee, 422,813 

20. Kentucky, 564,317 

21. Ohio, - - 581,434 

22. Indiana, 147,178 

23. Illinois, 55,211 

^24. Missouri, 66,586 

District of Columbia, 33,039 

Michigan, -------- 8,806 

Northwest, 

Arkansaw, 14,273 

Missouri, 

Oregon, 

Florida, 15,000 



Total population in 1820, - - - 9,625,724 

Note - -By accident, Spanish, North and South America, and the 
West Indies, were sent too laU for insertion in their plaize, "vvbich is 
I'.ere, and will be found in an ap])eudix ; -Nvhiuh see. 

OCEANICA. 

Under this general head we embrace all the 
principal islands of the several oceans on fhe 

glol^.e. 



(X.KAMCA. l'2\} 

1. Asiatic Islands. — These lie in the great In^ 
dian ocean, S E. of Asia. 

2' African Islands. — Madagascar, Isle of France 
St. Helena, and others on the coast of Africa. 

Australasia. — Embracing New Holland, and 
the adjacent islands of Papua, or New Guinea, 
New Britain, New Ireland, and the Solomon isles, 
New Caledonia, and the New Hebrides, New^ 
Zealand, and Van Dieman's land, extending from 
lat. 3° N. to lat. 50^ S., and from long. 95° to 
185° E. 

4. Polynesia. — Embracing all the Islands from 
lat. 50° S. to 35° N., and from 170° E. long, from 
London, to 130° W., viz. 1. The Pelew Islands. 
2. The Ladrones. ^ 3. The Carolines. 4. The 
Sandwich Isles. 5. The Marquesas. 6. The 
Society Isles. 7. The Friendly Isles. 

5. American Islands. — Under this head are em- 
braced Greenland, (which has lately been found 
to be an island,) Newfoundland, the West India 
islands, and all other islands on the American 
coast. 

Questions on Section VI. 

Of what has an account already been given? 

How are the two great continents, the eastern 
and western, divided ? 

Mention the divisions of each. 

And the divisions of the islands. 

Do these divisions, with the great oceans, em 
brace the whole face of the globe ? 

Give the boundaries of Asia — its length — - 
breadth — contents in square miles — its divisions — 
their number — and population of each division. 

How does M. Bnm divide Asia ? 



L'>0 MODERN GEOURAFUi. 

Give the boundaries of Europe — -its lejio^iit 
' — breadth — its contents in square miles — its di- 
visions — their number — the population of each. 

Give the boundaries of Africa — its contents In 
square miles — its divisions. What is said of ita 
interior regions ? 

Of its larger and smaller kingdoms ? 

Into how many divisions may Africa be conven* 
iently divided ? 

Name them. 

What is the estimated population of Africa ? 

Give the boundaries of America — its divisions 
— the number of its inhabitants. 

What isthmus separates North and South Ame- 
rica ? 

Give the divisions of North America. 

What are the divisions of British America, and. 
ilie number of inhabitants in each ? 

Give the boundaries and extent of the United 
States — the number and names of the several 
states and territories — the population of each in 
1820.* 

What are contained under the general head of 
Oceanica ? 

How many divisions are there under this head ? 

Name them. 

Where do the Asiatic islands lie ? 

The African ? 

What islands does Australasia embrace 'I 

What Polynesia ? 

Give the latitudes and longitudes of these d'l^ 
visions, and point them out on the map. 

Where do the American islands lie ? 

N>me the principal ones. 

*■' See Appeuj^i*^ 



PROSPECTIVE GEOGRAPHr, 



INTRODUCTION. 



Lv reviewing' the long way we have travelled^ 
from the creation down to the present time. 
through a period of nearly 5000 years, we find 
events, the most interesting and important, con- 
oected with every step of our progress. Begin- 
ning with the creation of the heaven and the 
earth, we have described the process of that great 
work, as given us by Moses, in the successive 
parts of it, to its completion, when the eaif^th w^as 
litted to be the happy abode of innocent beings. 

We have described the solar system in its seve- 
i;:al parts ; the earth which we inhabit, particular- 
ly, in its grand divisions and natural history. We 
have given an account cf the creation, the high 
rank and character of MAN, and the vast and splen- 
did inheritance bestowed on him by his Maker. 
We have described, also, the delightful garden of 
Eden, which the Creator himself selected and 
planted for the first parents of our race. To in- 
struct and gratify our young readers, we' have 
given a geographical description oi\Mesopoiamia^^ 



IM rROSPECTI\'E GEOUilAFiiV. 

that most interesting country, in which this garden 
was situated, and the rivers and places in it, which 
are mentioned in the Bible. 

We have given an account of the building of the 
ark by Noah ; of the flood, and its awful effects 
on the earth ; of the building of Babel ; of the 
confounding of the original and common language 
of mankind ; the forming of new languages for 
different portions'of them ; — thus laying the found- 
ation for their dispersion over the face of the 
earth, and becoming the seeds of the nations who 
have since inhabited it. We have presented a 
general view of the introduction of Christianity, 
and of its wonderful effects on the world. 

We^have taken a general and particular geo- 
graphical survey of the earth, as it now lies be- 
lore us, and have noticed some of the wonderful 
events of the last half century, and the varied 
and innumerable improvements which have 
been made in every thing which relates to the el- 
evation, convenience, increase, and happiness of 
mankind. New nations, we find, are springing 
up in parts of the world, till lately hardly known, 
which will probably soon rival the old ones. The 
inhabitants of the earth are every where waking 
up — combining together — pressing onward — and 
]n many different ways urging on the advancement 
of things to some great and glorious end. " In 
the progress of these events," a late writer perti- 
nently observes, " it is impossible not to perceive 
that an immense change is about to be effected, 
with respect to the aspect of the civilized world." 

Contemplating these things, every one will be 
roady to ask — what is the nature of these expect- 
ed changes, and of this glorious end which they 
are to accomplish ? and when are these things to 



I.NTROBUCTIOX. 133 

be I To satisfy inquiries of this kiad, as far as 
they can be satisfied, is our object in this con- 
cluding part of our little work. 

We are fully aware, that of the future it be- 
comes us to speak with ca-iiion. We can trace 
back our own way to former ages by the monu- 
ments which those who have gone before us have 
iei't behind them, and can tell with confidence 
what has been. The present is before us, and of 
that, therefore, we can speak with certainty. 
Bn.t a darkness hangs over the future^ which 
nothing ]>iit the eye oi' the Great Supreme ran pe- 
ri(^ trine. 



M 



bECllOiX 1, 



r/iere uvill be a great moral change in the juiurc 
ages of the world. 

Although we are not gifted with capacities 
1o know the future, as well as we know the past 
and the present, still we are not left iri total 
ignorance of what is to be. He who sec^* 
alike the past, the present, and the future, ha^ 
kindly given us a Revelation^ which sheds a light 
upon the future. By its aid we can look forward 
and discern some of the changes which will take 
place in the future ages of the world, and what ii? 
to be the end of all things pertaining to the hea- 
vens and the earth. By this Revelation, contain- 
ed in the Bible, we are plainly, in very many 
places, and in various language, taught, that a 
great moral change^ affecting the whole human race. 
^vill take place hereafter, and probably is already 
commencing, in the uncommon events of the pre- 
sent day. By this change, the ruins of the fall. 
to a great extent, will be repaired ; the power 
arid influence of the Messiah's reign will be fell 
and acknowledged by all nations, producing uni- 
versal peace and willing obedience to the law of the 
Creator; and the earth and its inhabitants, in a 
manner and degree beyond our anticipations, will 
return again to the happy state of perfection, in- 
nocence, and peace, in which they were originally 
formed. This most desirable state of the world 



MORAL CIIANGi: OF THE WOPcLD. iob 

was intimated in the very first promise kindly 
made to man, immediately after his fall — '• The 
seed of the woman (meaning Christ the Messiah) 
shall bruise the serpent's head.'' The same great 
event was announced in the sacred prophecies, 
in plainer and plainer language, in successive pe- 
rieds, till finally, the subject arose in the view of 
the prophet, to such magnitude and interest, that 
it occupies nearly the whole of the last book in 
the sacred volume. 

But a very few, only, ot the almost innumera- 
ble passages in the Bil3le, which have more or 
less bearing on the period which is to come, can 
be recited in this little book. A few of those 
which are more explicit, however, will be sufiicient 
ior our purpose, which is, to put our youthful read- 
ers on the inquiry, to find out, and to note down 
in their little commonplace books (which they 
would do well alv/aj^s to keep) other passages that 
relate to the same subject. It becomes the young, 
particularly, to look to the future, and to ascer- 
tain from every source at their command, the 
events, which are probably to happen in the age 
in which they are to live, and to act.* 

Some of the passages which describe the future 
period of the world follow. No comment is made 
on them. '' Thou art my Son, this day have I be- 
gotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee 

* The author here remarks, thnt it has been his great ob- 
ject to bring before his little readers, the vast subjects com- 
prised in this book, which would seem, at first view, far to 
exceed the comprehension of the minds of children and 
5'ouths to lead them to inquire^ and to ask questions^ which 
they can do on every topic which is here treated. The 
plan, he is sensible, is new and, but an experiment ; he feels 
a stron^; confidence in its success. 



136 PROSPECTIVE GEOGRAPHY. 

the heathen for thme inheritance, and the ulK r- 
most parts of the earth for thy possession '^ [Ps. 
iL] ^^All kings shall bow down before liini." 
*• It shall come to pass in the last days, that the 
mountain of the Lord's house shall be establish- 
ed in the top of the mountains, and shall be ex- 
alted above the hills ; and all nations shall i\o\v 
unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come 
ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, 
to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will 
teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his 
f)aths ; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and 
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he 
shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke 
many people, and, they shall beat their swords in- 
to ploughshares, and their spears into pruning- 
hooks ; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, 
neither shall they learn war any more." [Isaiah 
ii.] ''There shall be nothing to hurt or of- 
fend in all the holy mountain." " For as the 
earth brlngeth forth her bud, and as the garden 
causeth the things that are sown into it to spring 
forth, so the Lord will cause righteousness 
and praise to spring forth before all the na- 
tiGJisj'^ [Is. Ixi.] The stonfe which was cut out 
of the mountain, and smote without hands the 
image, became a great mountain and filled the 
whole earth." [Dan. ii. 35.] " Many shall run to 
and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." [Dan. 
xii. 4.] " The light of the moon shall be as the 
light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be 
seven-fold, as the light of seven days." [Isa. xxx. 26.] 
•' The knowledge of the Lord shall cover the 
earth, as the waters cover the sea." [Is. xi. 9.] 
•'All shall know the Lord from the least unto thf 
oreatest." "Who hath heard such a thing? 



-MORAL CHANGE OF THE WORLD. Vol 

Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be 
made to bring forth in one day, or shall a nation 
be born at once ?'' [Is. xlvi.] " And it shall 
come to pass, that from one new moon to anoth- 
er, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh 
come and worship before me, saith the Lord.'' 
[Is. Ivi.] ^' The inhabitants shall not say I am 
sick." [Is. xxxiii.] '' It shall come to pass, that 
1 will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall 
come and see my glory." [Is. xxxiii.] "He 
(Christ) shall have dominion from sea to sea, 
and from the river to the ends of the earth." 
[P^.^'lxxiv.] '' The kingdom, and the dominion, 
and the greatness of the kingdom under the 
whole heaven, shall be given to the people 
of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is 
an everlasting" kingdom, and all dominions shall 
serve and obey him." [Dan. vii.] "Hath God 
cast away his people ? God forbid. He hath not 
cast away his people." " Blindness in part has 
hap])ened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gen- 
tiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be 
saved." [F{om. xi.] 

The gospel is to be preached, with the Holy 
Ghost ciccompanying it, to every nation, and kin- 
dred, and tongue, and people, under the whole hea- 
ven. Satan is to be bound a thousand years, during 
which periodThrist will reign. And in these hap- 
py years the rigliteous shall flourish, and enjoy 
abundance of peace. 

We can forju but very faint ideas of the very 
gj^eat and wonderful change*;, which will have 
been eftected in the world, ^vhen these and many 
ther prophecies^ wliich relate to the future, shall 
have been ffulfilled. Our highest conceptions of 
the hnnpiroj^s and glory of tlic ncrind of Chrisfs 



13o PROSPECTIVE GEOGRAFilY. 

reign on earth, doubtless fall . far short of what 
will be realized by those who live in that period. 
To serve God and to do good, will be their highest 
pleasure. Selfishness,that bane of human happiness, 
which has ever been, and is now, the cause of most 
of the miseries which afflict our world, will be 
banished, and give place to the reign of love and 
good will : and this guilty, polluted, and wretched 
world, renovated by the power of the Holy Ghost. 
will again reflect the image of heaven, and as at the 
first, God will dwell with men. While coiiteii!- 
plating this ravishing prospect, the poet shall 
speak for us the language of our hearts. 

" One soni; employs all iiations ; and all ( ry 
^ Worthy the Latiib, ibr he WdSoIaiu torus/ 
The dwellers in the vales, and on the rocke, 
Shout to each other, «nd the moiuitain lops 
From distant nionntaios, catch the flyin«: joy ; 
Till nation after nation, taught the strain ; 
3-^arth rolls the rapturous Hosanna round.'- 

Coii-jitr. 

Questions on Section I. 

What is the subject of the third part of this 
book ? 

In reviewing the preceding parts, what facts and 
information do you find ? 

Relate the particular things enumerated in \he 
Introduction, beginning with the Creation — then 
the Solar System — the Earth — the Garden of 
Eden, &c. 

What does the conlemplatioii of these things 
prompt one to ask ? 

What is said to be the object of the concluding 
])art of this litfle work ? 



MURAL CHAXGi: Ol^ THL WwiU-P. 1:59 

}h)w does It becoine us to i^pea]: uf the future ? 

Can v/e speak with coiiiideuce of u'hut \vc\< been 
and what now is ? 

What hangs over the future ? 

What eye alone can penetrate ihis darkness? 

Can we know the tVitare as we know the past 
ami the preseni ? 

Can we know nothini^ of whai h to be ? 

Whence do we derive our knowledge of the 
future ? 

Does this sacred book shed light on the ages 
to come, and inform us of the end of all things? 

What great chcmge does it particuiarlv fore- 
tell ? 

Will this laoral chaniye :ifiect the w\bole world? 

Is this change probabi}^ now commencing? 

What are the indications of this ? 
• What are to be the consequences of this change ? 

Enumerate those which are stated. 

In what proniise was. this desirable strite of 
things tirst intimated ? 

Has this event beea announced in other pro- 
phecies ? 

In what language ? 

What book of the script^ires is almost wholly 
occupied with this subject ? 

Are the passages of the Bible which relate to 
this subject, i'ew or numerous ? 

Of what kind are the few, passages selected for 
this book ? 

Will these be sufficient to answer the purpose 
of this book? 

What is that purpose ? 

What book, is it recommended, that childrei 
should keep ? 

To what use should they put such a book? 



14.Q I'RU^PECTIVE GEO.GJlAPH\'. 

What d(M3S it particularlv become the young tp 

Repeat the prophecies which describe the lii- 
Uire period of the world. 

Can we form any adequate ideas of the change? 
which will take place, the scenes of glory and 
happiness w^hieh will open to tlie view^, and en- 
j^oyment of those wi^o will live on earth during 
this period ? 

What will be their employment? 

What is said oi selfishness ? 

Will this odious spirit, this most fruitful source 
of human misery, be banished from among men 
during this happy period ? 

What will follow ? 

Repeat the lines ofCowpers description of the 
State of the world at this period ? 



SECTION 11. 



'iisequeiice^ of the great Moral Change^ described 
ill the foregoing section. 

There will be no more wars. The passions 
^vhich now occasion them, will be subdued. The 
earth will not be stained with human blood, as it 
now is. Mankind every where will love one 
another, and seek each other's good, performing- 
all acts of kindness and good will, fulfilling 
all the offices of the most perfect friendship. 
All ranks and classes, of both sexes ; all of every 
age, nation, and language, under the whole 
heaven, will be much better people, and have 
far higher enjoyments, than any, even the best, 
with whom we are now acquainted. They will 
be capable of doing vastly more good than those 
who now dwell upon the earth, and will (Jo 'far 
more. Now^ benevolent plans and eftbrts are 
opposed, and often frustrated, by wicked men — 
then^ there will be no contending interests, all 
will be actuated by one spirit. The intelligence 
and wisdom of all will be combined to devise, and 
their efforts to execute, the best and most ex- 
tensive plans for doing good. Now^ plans of be- 
nevolence are retarded, suspended, and often de- 
feated, from the want of sufficient pecuniary re- 
sources — then^ the millions on millions now ex- 
pended in wars, in measures and means of nation- 
al defence andsecuritv — the millions also hoarded 



142 P-EH^PECTIVE G¥'J)GKArU\. 

by avarice, expended in gratifying the privle 
ambition, revenge, and other unlawful passion* 
and appetites of mankind, and particularly in 
ijUemperance — and the millions more which will 
be saved by the avoidance of all the multitude of 
expensive vices, which will now have ceased, by 
an inolpease of human industry, and by a wise 
economy in expenditures — all these immense ex 
penditures, redeemed from their present unhal- 
lowed uses, may be converted, to all the extent 
necessary, and will be converted, to purposes of 
beneficence, and public utility. 

This wonderful change, w^hich will take place 
in the dispositions of men toward each other in 
(his hap^y period, is described by the prophet 
Isaiah, and after him by Cowper, in a style of 
exc^uisite beauty. 

*^* The lion, and the leopard, and the bear, 
Grazie with the fearless flocks ; all bask at noon 
Together, or all gambol in the shade 
Of the same grove, and drink one common stream. 
Antipathies are none. No foe to man 
Lurk? in the serpent now ; the mother sees, 
And smiles to see, her infant's playful hand 
Stretch'd forth to dally with the crested worm, 
To stroke his azure neck, or to receive 
The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue. 
All creatures worship man, and all mankind 
One Lord, one Father."* 

* Some writers consider the language of fhe pro))liet, in 
the passage here alluded to by the poet, ^sjiguralive, intend- 
ed merely to illustrate the peaceful and happy state of man- 
kind, during the period he is describing. The poet, how- 
ever, appears to understand the prophet literally— ■■^s doe? 
Mr. Henry, who, in his commentary, says, *'the lion shall 
cease to be ravenous, and shall cat straw like the ox, as 
som© think all the beasts of prey did before the fall. 7'he 
asp i«n-5 the cockatrice shuU cease to be venomous, so thai 



MORAL CHANGI-: OF XHE WORI D* H 3» 

in view of the wonders opened by the prophe- 
cies, this charming poet exclaims :— 

** Ah scenes surpassing fable, and yet true ; 

Sxienes of accomplished bliss ! Which who can se^, 

Though but in distant prospect, and not feel 

His soul refreshed with loretnste of the joy ? 

Rivers of «^ladness water all the earth, 

And clothe all climes with beauty ; t'^e repi^ch 

Of barrenness is past. I'he fruitful field 

Laughs with abundance ; and ihe land, once leaij, 

Or fertile only to its own disgrace, 

Kxulta to see its thistly curse repeafd 

The various seasons woven into oUe, 

And that one season an eternal spring. 

The garden liears no blight, and needs no (jeu(;^, 

For there is none to covet, all are full." 

Ill the happy period, which the prophecies 
lead us to expect, there will be a great increase 
of useful knowledge — great advances in literature^ 
ike sciences^ the liberal and the jine arts — and a 
great multitude o{ new inventions^ adapted to faci* 
litate commercial, literary, and social intercourse, 
between all nations, and to promote every spe- 
cies of improvements* The earth will be capa- 

P.?iien{..s «!»all Icl their children play with them, and Rul 
Uieir hands anion -^ them.'* This appears lo be the natUr;il 
and conrect interpretation of the passage. There were uo 
hurtful beasts, or poisonous reptiles^ before the fall, when 
*' the Lord God brought them to Adam'* to receive their 
names. And as there will be ** nothing to hurt or destroy," 
during the period we are describing, we may, I thiQk, 
saiely infer, that not only the wicked dispositions and habits 
of men will be changed, but those also of all the inferior 
creatures ; else there would remain, in savage beasts and 
venomous reptiles, '<5ame//M>?g, both io hurl and rfej//ioj/" 
mankind. It is as easy for the Almighty to change the dis- 
positions of beasts and reptiles, as those of meft. In neither^ 
can a radical chaoge be wrought, but by miracle. 



\ lA FH.U^FKCTJVl:: G.i:uGKAP.li\. 

ble of sustaining a vastly larger ])opulation thait 
has existed upon it since the flood ; hence we 
may expect a corresponding increase of its in- 
habitants. The prophets speak of this period, in 
language highly descriptive of great prosperity 
and happiness. The windows of heaven will be 
opened, and a blessii^ poured out so large that 
there will not be roonn enough to receive it. 
The devourer will be rebuked, for the sake of 
those who shall then inhabit the earths and shall 
not destroy the fruits of their ground ; nor shall 
the vine cast her i'ruit before the time in the 
fields. 

The language in which tlie prophecies, con- 
cerning this period are expressed, justities our 
expectations of all these tliiniis. Wliat has^ been 
witnessed by those now on the stage, for the last 
half century, and what we daiW hear and see. 
very plainly indicate that these wonderful im- 
provements have already commenced, and are 
now in very rapid progress. In regard to them, 
the civilized world has already passed through 
the stage of infancy, and is advancing, under strong- 
er and still stronger impulses, to manhood. Chil- 
dren of tender age, by means of the increased 
advantages for their education, now make great- 
er acquirements in the various branches oi 
useful knowledge, than their fathers and mothers 
before them, made daring a long life. 

In this happy period, also, obstacles to im- 
provement, which have hitherto existed, will be 
removed. Now, multitudes absolutely destroy. 
and still greater numbers impair^ their mental and 
bodilv energies, by intr?mpernnce. br.th in ^atitio' 



MORAL CHANGE OF THE WORLf'. 143 

«iid drinking;^ then these vices will be unknowp, 
anf] all tv^ili enjoy vigor, both of body and mind. 
.Kow men are sick and feeble ; then none will say 
'• I am sick." JV'^ott? time is undervalued, and in a 
thousand different ways, misspent and wasted ; 
then it will be duly estimated, and every moment, 
as it passes, will be improved to some useful 
purpose. .Yow the millions that are wanted for 
the various purposes of benevolence, are wasted 
in wars, in support of the vices of mankind, and 
hoarded by misers ; then wars and vices will both 
cease, and so of course will their expenses, and 
there will be no misers ; and thus this immensfe 
fund will be redeemed, and all hearts will he 
prepared to apply it, in all the ways in which it 
can be made subservient, to the welfare of the 
world. In such a state of things, who can antici- 
pate the advances which will be made in evet*y 
thing which will bless mankind ? 

Questions on Section If. 

AVhat is the lirst consequence named, of ihp 
gvcM moral change we have described ? 

\yhy will there be no wars ? 

Is the earth now stained with human blood ? 

Will it be during the Messiah\s reign ? 

What will then be the feelings and conduct of 
mankind towards each other ? 

* Physicians have estimated, that at least ihree-fourths of 
the diseases, which now afflict our world, are either wholly 
prodaced, or rendered much more distressing and fatal, by 
intemperance in drinking. Add to this, the like injurtous 
effects of excess in eativg, and it will be found, that in these 
two vices only, Wo have the causes of nearly the whole cf 
human diseases. 

M 



14G I'LKSFKCTIV'K GLOGKAjfHV. 

Wliat IV ill (ben be the character of men. coin- 
pared with tlieir present character? 
Of v/lrat will Ihey then be capable ? 
How are Jjenevolent plans and efforts nou 
Ireated? 

How will tbev be treated ihe/i ? 
What cause iwiso retards, and often defeats. 
}*enevolent plans ' 

What means for llieir support will then exist ? 
vViii these means be immense? 
From wliat sources w ill they arise ? 
To what purpose v.wy they, and usUl they, 
doubtless be converted ? 

Which of *the prophets has described, in lan- 
guage most pertinent and beautiful, the change 
in the dispositions oi" men, which is expected 
jiereal'ter to take place r . 

Vvliat celebrated }iOot has put his description 
into verse ? 

Repeat the lines quoted. 
Also tliose which follow. 

How do some writers consider the langUcige 
used by the propltet Isaiah, in the passage 
quoted ? [The anf^wer is in the note.] 
How does the poet understand them ? 
How does Mr.. Henry ? 
• Repeat his remarks. 

Is this probably the correct m.eaning of tiie 
})rophet ? 

What reasons are assigned to support it ? 
If, during the period in question, nothing is to 
exist which shall " hurt or destroy," must not the 
savage and ferocious dispositions of wild beasts 
and venom.t)us reptiles be changed, and become 
haraiiess, as they were when the Lord God 
brourtt them to Adam to receive their names? 



MOilAL CUAXoG OF THE WOULD. 147 

It' this is not so, how will the propliecy ho 
ibldlled? 

Will it not he as easy for the Almighty to 
change the had tempers of beasts, as those of 
wicked men ? 

Can either he done radically and etTectUctlly, 
without a miracle ? 

What other consequences will follow the great 
moral change which has been mentioned ? 

How do the prophets speak of this period ? 

How do they describe this prosperity ? 

Does the language used by the prophets justify 
expectations of this kind? 

What does the state of things for the last half 
century, and their present state, indicate? 

In regard to these things, what is said of the 
advances of the civilized world? 

What is said of the improvements of children 
now, compared with those of their parents ? 

What great obstacle to improvement now exist<. 
vrhich will then be removed ? 

What is said of intemperance in the note ? 

What is said in, regard to sickness ? 

What in regard to time ? 

What is now done with the millions wanted for 
benevolent purposes ? 

What will be done with these millioas io the 
happy period before us ? 

Whijt will be the eftcrt .^ 



SKCTION li(. 



Uf tits period iinmediaielij succeeding the close ot 
the thousand years of happiness in this ztcorJd, 
Satan loosed. The Resurrection, The final 
judgment. The burning of the world. 

We have no light on the events of these most 
interesting" periods, but what we derive from the 
Holy Scriptures. The description of the tirst 
there given by the apostle John, in these few 
words, which are very plain and explicit. 

•' And when the thousand years are expired, 
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall 
go out to deceive the nations which are in the 
lour quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to 
gather them together to battle : the number of 
whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went 
up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed 
the camp of the saints about, and the beloved 
city : and fire came down from God out of hea- 
ven, and devoured them And the devil that 
deceived them was cast into the lake of tire and . 
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet 
are, and shall be tormented day and night, for 
ever and ever.'-* 

Reference is had to this event by the apostle^ 
in the 3d verse of this chapter. And the angel 
who seized and bound the old serpent, ^' cast 
him, into the bottomless pit, and shut him up. and 

* Rev. XX, 7-.10 



>i:t a seal upon him, that he should deceive the 
nations no more, till the thousand years should 
he fuililled ; and after that he must be loosed for a 
little season,'''' A short period^ after his confine- 
ment for a thousand years, will be allowed to the 
adversary, the devil, to deceive the nations, and 
to re-establish his kingdom among men. Of the 
events of this " little season," we know nothing, 
other than what is contained in the passages 
quoted. The efforts of Satan will be vigorous 
and powerful, aided by '^Gog and Magog, the 
number of whom will be as the sand of the sea ;''-* 
but the desperate battle in which he will rashly 
engage, will ^soon terminate, by the immediate 
interposition of the divine power, in the awful 
and complere overthrow of him and his innume- 
rable army. This is to be his last effort, after 
which, he is to be '^ cast into the lake of fire and 
brimstone, with the beast and the false prophet, 
and shall be tormented day and night, /or ever and 
every 

After this last victorious conflict with Satan, 
the General Resurn^ction of the dead, and the 
final Judgment of mankind will immediately 
follow, which will be the vlast transactions on the 
face of this polluted earth. Of this grand and 
amazing scene, of which the universe of intelli- 
gent beings will be witnesses, the apostles and 
oar blessed Saviour himself, have^given us de- 
scriptions, here presented in their own words. 

* Who " Gog and Mag^og," are, and/ where they will 
dwe'.l in such numbersAlurin«; the thousand happy years, we 
Tcnow not, uor do we mak^ any conjectures^ on a subject, leit 
in fhe jhirk^ and therefore'not important for us to know. 

1^.2 



laO PROSPECTIVE GEOftRAPHV. 

The Savior says, '• The hour is coming, when 
all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of 
the Son of God, and shall come forth ; they that 
have done good, unto the resurrection of life, 
and they that have done evil, unto the resurrec- 
tion of condemnation." St. Paul says, " The 
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a 
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with 
the trump of God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise 
first, and with those who are alive and remain," at 
that period, ^^ shall be caught up together, to meet 
the Lord in the air." '' We shall all l)e changed, in 
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last 
^rump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead 
shall be raised incorruptible, and put on immortal- 

The final Judgment the apostle John thus de- 
scribes, 

'•And I saw a great white throne, and him that 
sat on it, from whose face the earth and the 
heaven fled away ; and there w^as fomid no place 
for them. And 1 saw^ the dead, small and great, 
stand before God ; and the books were opened ; 
and another book w^as opened, which is the book 
of life: and the dead were judged out of those 
things which were written in the books, accord- 
ing to their works. And the sea gave up the 
dead which were in it; and death and hell de- 
livered up the dead which were in them ; and 
they were judged every man according to their 
works. And death and hell were cast into the 
lake of fire. This is the second death. And 
whosoever was not found written in the book of 
life, was cast into the lake of fire." 

The description of the Judge himself follows. 
.— ^* When the Son of man shall come in his glory. 



THE FINAL JUDGMENT. Jol 

and all the holy angels with him, then shall he 
sit upon the throne of his glory : and before him 
shall be gathered all nations ; and he shall sepa- 
rate them one from another, as a shepherd di- 
vide th his sheep from the goats : and he shall set 
the sheep on his right hand, but the goals on the 
left. Then shall the King say unto them on his 
right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, in- 
herit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
foundation of the world : for I was an hungered, 
and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty, and ye gave 
me diink : 1 was a stranger, and ye took me in : 
naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye 
visited me : I was in prison and ye came unto 
me. Then shall the righteous answer him, say- 
ijig, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and 
fed Ihee ? or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? When 
saw we thee a stranger, aad took thee in ? or 
naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee 
sick, or in prison and came unto thee ? And the 
King shall answer, and say unto them. Verily I say 
unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
one of the least of these my brethren, ye have 
done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto 
them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye 
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels : for I was an hungered, and 
ye gave me no meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave 
me no drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me 
not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and 
in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall 
they also answer hmi, saying, Lord, when saw we 
thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or 
naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minis- 
ter unto thee ? Then shall he answer them, say- 
ino*. Verilv I sav unto vou. innsmucb as ve did it 



La2 PROSPECTIVE GEOGKAPH.V. 

not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not to 
me. And these shall go away into everlasting' 
punishment: but the righteous into life eter- 
nal." 

The scene of the judgment having past, then 
the prophet directs : — '' Lift up your eyes to 
the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath ; 
for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the 
earth shall wax old like a garment.''* The 
apostle Peter gives a more particular description 
of the awful scene of an expiring world. ^^ But 
the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the 
same w^ord, are kept in store, reserved unto fire, 
against the day of judgoient, and perdition of 
ungodly men. The day of the Lord will come ils 
a thief in the night, in Avhich the heavens shall 
pass away with a great noise, and the elements 
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth, and the 
•works that are therein, shall be burnt up." '• It 
is fit," says President Davis,t " that so guilty 
a globe, that had been the stage of sin for so many 
thousands of years, and which even supported the 
cross on which its Maker expired, should be 
made a monument of the divine displeasure, and 
either be laid in ruins, or refined by fire." 

The following is Dr. Young's description of 
this amazing scene : 

'* See all the formidable sons of fire, 
Eruptions, earthquakes, comets, lightnings, pljuy 
Their various engines ; all at once discharge 
Their blazing magazines ; and take by storm, 
This poor terrestrial citadel of man.' ' 

^ Is. lvii.6. 

"^ S"ee his sermon on the Jud'(m«|it»* 



tJlRM.NG OF THE WORLD. 
THE WORf.D ON' KIRK. 




1 Fet. iii. h). 



As thel.polluted bodies of good men are puri- 
iied by perishing in the grave ; so a world, stain- 
ed with human blood, andj corrupted by human 
vices, is destined to be purged as by fire. Both 
are to be dissolved and perish ; and both, Phee- 
nix-like, will spring into a%ew existence, freed 
from [all the elfects^of sin, prepared, the one to 
enjoy, the other to be the theatre of enjoying, 
perfect, ineflable, and endless^happiness. 



(Questions onlSection III. 

What are the three periods ^mentioned at the 
head of this section ? 

Whence do we derive our only light, on the 
great events jof these periods ? 

What, according to the apostle John, will hap- 
pen to Satan, at the expiration of the thousand 
years ? 

For how long a time is Satan to be loosed ? 

For what purpose ? 



154 PKIISPECTIVE GEOGPtAPHV. 

What will he attempt ? 

AVhose aid will he have ? 

What will be the issue of the great battle ? 

What Will be done to him after his defeat ? 

After this victorious conflict, what will next 
follow I 

What will follow the resurrection ? 

Will the judgment be the last transaction in 
this world / 

Who have given descriptions of the final judg- 
ment. 

Recite that given by John. 

And the more full one given by Christ him- 
3«elf? 

After the judgment is past, what is next to 
be looked for ? 

What does the prophet direct ? 

Give the apostle's description of this awful con- 
cluding scene. 

How are the bodies of good men purified ? 

How is this polluted world to be purified ? 

What must happen to both ? 

After they have perished, what will next take 
place conrernins: them ? 



;SECTION 1\ 




2 Pet. iii. 1.;. 
The jVew Heavens^ and .Xetc Earth. 

It would seem, from the Scriptures, that '• the 
heavens and the earth," like man, their propri- 
etor and lord, are to perish only for the purpose 
of becoming immortal. Man dies, his body mould- 
ers into dust ; but it is raised again a spiritual 
body, prepared for the society of spirits made 
perfect, who dwell in heaven with God. The 
earth and the heavens also, are to be burn- 
ed up, and to pass away; ^^nevertheless," sa\s 
the apostle, "we, according to the promise of 
God, look for new heavens and a new earth, 
wherein dwelleth righteousness."* The apostle 
John informs us, that he saw this new heaven and 

=^ 2 Pet. iii. \?,. 



156 PROSPECTIVE GEOGRAPHV. 

new earth, and from his own knowledge he tbu^' 
describes them. " And I saw a new heaven and 
a new earth ; for the first heaven and the first 
earth were passed away ; and there was no more 
sea. And t John saw the holy city, new Jerusa- 
lem, coming down from God out of heaven, pre- 
pared as a bride adorned for her husband. And 
1 heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Be- 
hold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he 
will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, 
and God himself shall be with them, and be their 
God. And God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, 
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be 
any more pain : for the former things are passed 
away. And he that sat upon the throne said, 
Behold, 1 make all things new. And he said unto 
me. Write : for these words are true and faithfuL 
And he said unto me. It is done."* 

A further description of the New Jerusalem, if 
given in the last chapter of the Bible. " And he 
showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as 
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and 
of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and 
on either side of the river, was there the tree of 
life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and 
yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of 
the tree were for the healing of the nations. And 
there shall be no more curse : but the throne of 
God and of the Lamb shall be in it ; and his servants 
shall serve him : and they shall see his face ; and 
his name shall be in their foreheads. And there 
shall be nO night there ; and they need no candle, 
neither light of the sun ; for the Lord God givetli 

^ ilev^xxi. 1 - Q. I 



m;\v jiKA\ bns and .\k\v r.Ar.TiT. jOT 

them li^ht: and they shall :rei2fn for ever and 
ever." 

Bishop Newton shall he our commentalor on 
this passage. '• The church of Christ shall en- 
dure through all tjmes and changes in this world, 
and likewise in the world to come. It shall he 
glorious upon earth during the millennium, and 
shall be more glorious still, in the new earth, after 
the millennium, to all eternity. Earth," purified 
by fire, " shall then become as heaven ; or rather 
it shall be heaven upon earth, God dwelling visi- 
bly with men : and there shall he no more deaths 
which cannot come to pass till death shall be 
totally abolished, and till the former things^ the 
first heaven and tlie first earth, on v/hich sin and 
death reigned, ctre passed away. He who sat 
upon the throne as Judge of the workl, declares, 
" Behold I make all things new." He is the 
author of this second, as he was of the first cre- 
ation; and he commands that these things be 
written for the edification of his church, with a 
firm assurance of their truth and certainty."-'^ 

We have thus completed our Geography of the 
earth and the heavens, in the largest sense of the 
word, from their creation, till purified by fire, 
they are swallowed up in eternity, and become 
the everlasting dwelling-place of glorified and 
happy human beings. The whole view here 
presented, cannot fail to fill the mind of everv 
one who duly contemplates it, with sublime and 
profitable ideas of the wisdom, the grandeur, and 
power of God ; and with strong desires to dwell 
for ever in this new and happy abode. If those 

* ^Fislrop >Vwton'5 Difserlations on the Prophecies. 

N 



io8 PPtOSPECTiVL GEOGRAPHY 

who reiin, and the youth Avho may study this i'ittie 
book, shall in consequence admire and love Him 
more, and obey Him betfer, and do more good to 
their fellow beings, and become prepared, for 
lieaven, the author, who has had great pleasure 
in writing it, will feel that he has a rich and 
abundant reward. 

ISome, doubtless, at first view, will pronounce 
. this book too serious for its subject. But He on 
v/hose authority we have relied, whose pattern 
we have followed, and who has furnished us with 
the greater part of our information, has not 
thought so, and we do not aspire to be wiser than 
He is. We know that it has not been the custom 
to write geography in this form ; but we delibe- 
rately think it the most natural form, and the 
best calculated to give us enlarged, sublime, and 
correct ideas of the subject. If so, we cannot 
but express a hope that the plan in future, npiay 
be adopted in our larger geographical works. 

Questions on Section IF, 

Wjiat is the subject of this last section ? 

Are the heavens and the earth to perish ? 

For what purpose ? 

Vv hat is said of man ? 

What of the heavens and the earth ? 

What, according to the promise of God, do we 
look for ? 

Give the apostle John's description of the new 
heaven and earth which he saw. 

What does Bishop Newton say concerning the 
church of Christ ? 



i\EW HEAVOS AND ISEW EAKTIf, iD>^ 

What wiii the new earth become ? 

What will be the state of the new earth in re- 
gard to death ? 

What does the Judge of the world declare ? 

Did he make the present earth, and will he 
make the new one also ? 

What does he command concerning these 
things ? 

For what purpose have they been written ? 

What does the author say of this work? 

What will probably be the effect of the whole 
view of the Geography which he has presented? 

What does he suppose may be the effect on 
those who read and study this little book ? 

Should it have this effect, what will be the 
consequence to the author? 

What will seme probablv pronounce this book 
to be ? 

What answer does the author give to this ob 
jection ? 

Has it been the custom to write Geography in 
this form ? 

What opinion, notwithstanding, does the author* 
give of it ? 

Repeat his concluding remark: 



~()inHt('d in itsvlare, p. ] 03. 
SPANISH NORTH AMEHICjI. 

Boundaries, — N. and N. E. by the United States j 
E, by the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean sea 
S. by the Isthmus of Darien ; W. by the Pacific ocean ; 
containing- 1,258,000 square miles. 

]3ivisions No Provinres. Population in 1825 

1. Mexico, or New Spain, 15 - 5,840,000 

2. Guatimala, - - - 6 - 1,500,000 

V/EST INDIES. 

These Islands, 33 in number, lie between Florida 
and the northern coast of S. America ; and contain* 
tog-ether, 105,000 square miles, 450,000 white inhabit- 
ants, and 1,600,000 muiattoes and negroes. — Total 
52,050,000. 

The island of Hispaniola, or Hayti, is independent ;; 
the rest belong to Great Britain, Spain, and a few to 
other European nations- 

SOUTH AMERICA. 

Boundaries. — It has North America, and the West 
Indies, N. ; the Atlantic and Ethiopic oceans, E. ; Ter- 
ra del Fuego, S. ; and the Pacific ocean W. It con- 
tains 7,000,000 square miles. 

Divisions. Population. 

1. New Granada, - . - . 1,800,000 

± Colombia, 728,000 

3; Guiana, 220,000 

4. Peru, 1,077,000 

5. Brazil, 2,400,00a 

6. Buenos Ayres, . . - - 2,000,000 

7. Chili, ..---- 1,200,000 

8. Patagonia, unknown. 

Except Brazil, which is connected with Portugal, 

these late provinces of Spain, have thrown off the yoke 
of that kingdom, and become independent state?. 



C0WrTS2^TS. 



AxKCrtNT GJCOGRAPHT. 

Definition of Geography, - .. - - 6 

Of the creation of the Earth and the Heavens, t6. 

The Solar System, - - - - - 14 

Table of the Sim and Planets, - - - 15 

Names of the twelve Constellations, - - 22 

Of the Earth, 27 

Classification of seas, - - . , - 30 

JVatural History, ------ 37 

The Earth. — Gcograpliical terms, 53 
The creation, character, and inheritance of Man. 
—Mesopotamia, and the rivers and places within 

and abotit it, which are mentioned hj Moses, ^^ 

Geolog-ical features and character of Mesopotamia, 67 

The Flood, 75 

The Flood. — Its effects. — liand of Shinar. — Babel. 
—Confusion of language. — Dispersion of man- 

Idfid. — Their early settlement, - - - CI 

The four ancient Empires of the world, - 85 

WODERW GEOGRAPHY. 

Tlie fall of the Roman empire. — The dispersion, 
state, and prospect of the Jews. — The character, 
introduction, and effects of Christianity.— The 
rise, character, and final overthrow of Popery 
and Mahometanism, - - . , 90 

THE WORLD IN GENERAL. 

Of man. — ^The varieties in the human race. — Unin- 
habited parts of the world. — Its population, and 
that of its principal divisions.— -Proportion of 
deaths according to age. — Averag - length of 
biiman life. — Number of births and deaths ^u 



niialiy in Kussia. — Proportion of births and deaths 
ill a g-eneration. — Annouat of births and deaths, 
oil the whole globe, in a year, a da}^ an hour, 
cj minute — Increase of mankind, if there were no 
wars nor pestilences, and of their support, by ex- ♦ 
isting- and futtire improvements. — The proportion 
of the sexes tbr.t are born, - - - 9t, 

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY. 

Lang-uages. — Forms of Government. — Religion, 105 

GENERAL GEOGRAPHY. 

Progress from the savage to the civilized state. — ^ 
Savages. — Civilized men. — Navigation. — Its ef- ^ 
fects on the state of the world, - - y^- 

Of Protestant Christian Missions to the heathen. — 
Commencement, progress, success, present state, 
and future prospects of these missions, - 119 

PARTICULAR MODERN GEOGRAPHr. 122 

.Of Asia, 125 

Of Europe, ._>--. ih. 

Of Africa, 126 

Of America, ------ ib. 

Of North America, ----- .127 

Of British America, ----- ib. 

Of the United States, . - . - ih. 

Of Oceanica, - 12C 

Of Spanish N. and S. America and West Indies, 160 

PROSPECTIVE GEOGRAPHY. 

Introduction, - - - - »- 131 

Of the great moral change yet to take place in the 

world, .--*---- 134 

Consequences of this great moral change, - 141 

Of the period immediately succeeding the close of 

the thousand years of happiness in this world. — 

The final judgment. — ^The burning of the worlds 148 

The new heavens and the new earth, - - 155 

THK END. 




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